Management by objective: Delays on power projects unacceptable, says Shahbaz

Chief minister says inefficient officers have no right to their jobs.

LAHORE:

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday reprimanded government officials for failing to meet the deadline for laying a transmission line for Quaid-i-Azam Solar Power Park in Cholistan, in Bahawalpur district.

The chief minister was presiding over a meeting to review the progress on the implementation of the project. He said no delay or negligence would be tolerated in ensuring that the landmark project was completed at the earliest.

“The institutions concerned should realise their responsibility… the solar power project has to be completed on a war footing,” the chief minister said.

Expressing his displeasure over the tardiness in implementing the projects, Sharif said inefficient officers had no right to continue in their jobs. “They are duty bound to complete this project of national importance on time,” he said.

The chief minister said there was no shortage of resources for implementing projects of national importance aimed at serving the people. “The government has provided sufficient funds to execute the scheme,” he added.

The chief minister ordered the concerned federal and provincial departments to establish a close liaison in this respect. He said no efforts should be spared to meet the goals set for the project.



“I want results… I am accountable to the people [for the project completion].”

The chief minister said his instructions in that regard were not just meant for the solar power park. Other power projects too should be completed on time. This was necessary to rid the people of debilitating electricity load shedding, he said.

The chief minister said the provincial government would set up a 1,000-megawatt solar-power project at Cholistan. He said another project to generate 100 megawatts of electricity through solar power would be completed by the end of the year.

He said the solar power project would provide sufficient electricity for the country for the years to come.

The provincial government has identified four sites to set up coal-fired power plants. The foundation stone of a 1320-megawatt power plant has been laid in Sahiwal recently.

The chief minister said the first turbine of Nandipur power project had been made operational in seven months. He said the project was producing 100 megawatts.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had inaugurated the turbine in Gujranwala last month.

It is a combined cycle thermal power plant. If run on furnace oil it will produce 425MW of electricity while with gas it will produce 525MW.

The government says a 270-MW coal-fired power plant would also be set up at the Ruyi Masood Textile Park in Faisalabad.

Water and Power Secretary Nargis Sethi told the chief minister efforts would be made to lay the transmission line quickly.

She said the ministry would submit a report to him in this regard over the next few days.

Chief Minister’s Special Assistant Azmul Haq, the chief secretary, the Quaid-i-Azam Solar Power Park project chairman, the Bank of Punjab president and representatives of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, the National Transmission and Despatch Company and the Multan Electric Power Company attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2014.