More relief: PM promises another cut in POL prices next month

Directs cabinet committee to make sure PTI’s gathering doesn’t further delay Chinese projects.

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the government would further reduce the prices of petroleum products next month.

“The reduction in prices of petroleum products will benefit the growers through depreciation in power bills of tube-wells and also give relief to general public in rural and urban areas through decreased transport fares,” he said while chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCE).



The prime minister also referred to the cut in prices of petroleum products last month, which eased inflationary pressures on the masses. “We will announce a reasonable cut in the prices of petroleum products this time as well,” he added.

He termed the recent signing of billions of dollars agreements with China a ‘game-changer’ and said the establishment of power houses and factories would prove historic in terms of elimination of the longstanding problem of load-shedding.

Taking a jibe at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the prime minister said: “Those staging sit-in may not be desiring an end to load shedding, but I’m committed to doing it and we will address this problem within our tenure in power.”

The premier said he had stated time and again that there was no quick-fix to the chronic energy crisis. “We are heading fast to address this issue, and once the issue is addressed, it will be a great service to the nation.”

Nawaz said it was very unfortunate that due to the sit-ins Chinese President Xi Jinping had to postpone his planned visit to Pakistan. But on the invitation of the Chinese president, he added, he visited Beijing to sign a slew of agreements worth billions of dollars.



According to sources, the premier directed the CCE to make sure that neither the energy projects signed with China nor the Chinese president’s upcoming visit to Pakistan was further delayed. The meeting also devised a comprehensive strategy to counter PTI’s November 30 sit-in, which the CCE said was creating obstacles for the government in the implementation of its agenda for development and overcoming the energy crisis with the support of China, sources said.

The premier told the CCE that despite his hectic efforts in his recent China visit, the government was facing difficulty in convincing Chinese companies to come to Pakistan to execute the projects the government has identified, sources said.

The CCE was told that although the Chinese government has openly offered loans to its companies to work on various projects in Pakistan but the companies were still in confusion while PTI’s November 30 gathering had further added to their fears.

The sources said Nawaz Sharif asked the CCE to frequently visit China in form of delegations to directly contact companies and convince them to come and visit Pakistan.

The PM hoped that Pakistani delegations would help in removing fear of the Chinese companies, adding that the Chinese president had promised to visit Islamabad after three months in order to boast confidence of his country’s companies to work in Pakistan.

Nawaz, pointed out that if the planned visits of the Pakistani delegation failed to remove the fears of Chinese companies about the political situation in Pakistan, then the PML-N would neither be able to fulfill its agenda of development nor overcome the energy crisis.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2014.