‘Punjab saving billions through solar projects’

Punjab Energy Minister Dr Akhtar Malik has said under the Punjab Ujala programme, so far more than 15,000 public schools and colleges across the province have been converted to solar energy.

He expressed these views during a meeting with the former president of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Mian Kashif Ashfaq. Board member of Quaid-i-Azam Thermal Power Company Mian Wasim Akhtar was also present on the occasion.

He said hundreds of similar projects are underway to solarise government hospitals, government offices, jails, shelter homes, Darulamans and shrines across the province.

Dr Malik said that those projects would save the Punjab government billions of rupees annually and would also significantly reduce environmental pollution.

"Solar energy projects of 3,333kw have been started in Faisalabad and Toba Tek Singh districts. They will cost Rs650 million and will save Rs100 million annually."

The provincial minister said according to the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan in Punjab, special attention was being paid to the alternative energy sources which were strengthening his agenda to control climate change.

Dr Akhtar Malik further said the Canal Top Solar Technology project is also being launched in Faisalabad and Gujranwala to save industries from load shedding and provide cheap electricity.

Appreciating these projects, Mian Kashif Ashfaq said that finding alternative sources of energy was the most important need of the hour.

He said Chief Minister Usman Bazdar and Dr Akhtar Malik had made an anonymous department known to the villages. “Of course these projects were bringing positive change in economic, climatic and social aspects at the grassroots level and remote villages without electricity are also getting enlightened,” he concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2022.