Pakistan Power Park: Balochistan govt to be equity partner in 6,600MW project

Chief minister offers to invest more; PM visits flood-hit areas in Sindh.

VEHARI/ SUKKUR/ HUB:

The Balochistan government will be an equity partner in the 6,600 megawatts Pakistan Power Park at Gadani, the project’s steering committee decided in its inaugural meeting on Saturday. Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch thanked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – who is also chairman of the steering committee – for his persistent personal interest in the coal-fired power project.

Assuring his government’s support for a timely completion of the project, the chief minister offered to invest more than the agreed equity to become a bigger partner in the project.

The prime minister directed concerned officials to ensure the fast-track completion of the project and warned that no delays would be tolerated. He directed the finance ministry to release funds for the Pakistan Power Park as soon as possible and approved the appointment of focal persons for the project in different government departments.



He also asked concerned officials to arrange road shows, both at home and abroad to create awareness and attract investment in the project. He also told the meeting participants about the immense investors’ interest in the project.

The steering committee was earlier briefed by Water and Power Secretary Saifullah Chatta on the salient features of the project and the progress made thus far. Both the prime minister and the finance minister, who was also present in the meeting, appreciated the progress made by the ministry of water and power and assured their continued support to the project.

PM in Sukkur

Premier Nawaz earlier visited the flood-hit areas of Sukkur division. He told reporters that that while the recent floods had caused widespread devastation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh, “compared to the 2010 floods, the scale of devastation is much less.”

“I want to express my heartfelt sense of sorrow at the loss of nine precious lives in Sukkur division,” he said.  However, he did not announce any relief package for Sindh.

The premier said he has asked the provincial government to take all measures to evacuate stranded people and provide them all possible assistance.  “I ask the Sindh government to help rehabilitate those displaced by the floods.”

Over 120 villages were swamped by floodwater in Larkana on Saturday. Deputy Commissioner Mirza Nasir Ali said that floodwater entered 144 villages, displacing around 7,000 residents. He said the district administration has established 12 relief camps for the displaced people and two camps for their cattle.

On the other hand, after sustaining more than 510,000 cusecs of flood water for the last 36 hours, the water level at Sukkur Barrage had started to recede. On Saturday, a low flood was recorded at the barrage with 499,000 cusecs water discharging.



Sukkur Barrage control room in-charge Abdul Aziz Soomro told The Express Tribune that more than 341,000 cusecs of water was discharging at Guddu Barrage and a decrease of 150,000 cusecs has been recorded there during the last 48 hours.

“Guddu Barrage will see high floods once again from August 26, because water from rivers Chenab, Ravi, Sutlaj and Jhelum will fall at Panjnad, where the Indus is running with 250,000 cusecs and with addition of 312,000 cusecs, it will turn into a high flood,” Soomro said.

Flood water enters Vehari

Flood-water entered Vehari district on Saturday, inundating around 75 villages, local administration officials said. They said the Provincial Disaster Management Authority has handed over 500 ration bags and 100 tents to the district administration and all necessary arrangements have been put in place to face any emergency situation. The officials added that all settlements affected by the flood had been evacuated.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2013.