Against all odds: Energy projects to be completed by 2017, says CM

Shahbaz says over-reliance on thermal power generation was a grave error.

LAHORE:

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Saturday that his Pakistan Muslim League government was committed to eradicating load shedding. He was addressing a meeting of the special committee for energy constituted by the prime minister. Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal presided over the meeting.

Sharif said that the government would ensure that all ongoing energy projects were completed by 2017. He said that the provision of electricity was inextricably linked with the promotion of agriculture, industrial growth and prosperity. The chief minister said that the generation of reasonably priced hydropower was a leading priority of the government. Sharif said that overreliance on thermal technology for power generation by former governments was a grave error. He said that the government was trying to overcome the energy crisis through a multipronged strategy.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal and Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif also addressed the meeting.

Later during the day, Sharif said that Ramazan Bazaars had been established to provide the public with reasonably priced necessities. He said that the government would not allow black marketeers and hoarders to exploit the public. Sharif was speaking to journalists after a surprise visit to the People’s Colony Ramazan Bazaar.

The chief minister was en route to Lahore from Rawalpindi when he directed the pilot of his helicopter to land in Gujranwala, without prior notice. He then proceeded to inspect the Peoples Colony Ramazan Bazaar.  The district authorities were also unaware of Sharif’s programme.

Sharif visited vendors’ stalls and inspected the quality and price of the commodities being sold. The chief minister spoke to the customers in the bazaar to ascertain the price and quality of items being sold. The people told Sharif that reasonably priced commodities of adequate quality were available in the bazaar. The citizens said that prices in Ramazan Bazaars had stabilised and standards were being maintained after the chief minister had started inspecting them. He checked weighing machines and inspected the quality and moisture content of the flour being sold.

The chief minister also visited the Shaheenabad Ramazan Bazaar. Sharif especially checked sugar and flour stalls. On discovering flour of inferior quality, the chief minister directed the authorities to seal Muzaffar Flour Mill. Sharif directed the officials to relax the restriction of a one-kilogramme sale of sugar per consumer and allow two kilogramme sales. The chief minister also inspected weights and measures in the bazaar.

Talking to journalists on the occasion, the chief minister said that Faisalabad’s Ramazan Bazaars were superior to the ones he had seen in Okara and Kasur. He expressed satisfaction with the prices and quality of the items being offered for sale in the Ramazan Bazaars of the city. Sharif directed district officials to check the prices of basic necessities being sold in the open market. The chief minister said that his government had zero tolerance for hoarders and black-marketeers.

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