Provisional relief: No blackouts at Sehr, Iftar, says Nawaz

Load-shedding should not exceed six hours in urban and eight hours in rural areas, PM instructs power ministry

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has promised that there will be no power outages at Sehr and Iftar during the holy month of Ramazan.

Chairing a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister House on Wednesday, he also said that all-out efforts should be made to ensure uninterrupted supply of petroleum products in all parts of the country, particularly during Ramazan.

He told the water and power ministry that during Ramazan, load-shedding should not exceed the permitted limit of six hours in urban and eight hours in rural areas.

The session was convened to review the power and petroleum supply situation during the summer months, especially during Ramazan.

Sino-Pak cooperation

The prime minister separately met with a delegation of the Research and Development International (RDI), a Sino-Pak think tank on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

He welcomed the establishment of RDI and said China and Pakistan were ‘Iron Brothers’ and were closely cooperating in all domains with the common vision of building a better future for both the nations as well as to promote peace in the region.

In the backdrop of the recent visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Nawaz said the CPEC was the flagship project of the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.

He also extended his deepest condolences to the Chinese leadership and people on the tragic incident of a ship sinking in the Yangtze River, where more than 400 people are still missing.

In a letter to his Chinese counterpart, Premier Nawaz said the Pakistani people shared the sorrow of their Chinese brethren. He hoped the people of China would overcome the tragedy with their usual resilience.



The delegation congratulated Nawaz and his government on achieving historic consensus on the CPEC in the recently held all-party conference. Nawaz told the delegation that a parliamentary committee was formed to oversee and expedite the CPEC projects.

Information corridor

The delegation informed the premier that the RDI planned to establish a China-Pakistan information corridor to support and supplement the CPEC. The project would be a one-window operation to provide all the necessary information to anyone who seeks it.

The prime minister was informed that the Chinese authorities were considering holding a CPEC forum every year in Xinjiang’s Karamay city. They invited him to visit Karamay to see the special economic zone set up there.

The delegation expressed interest in exploring areas of cooperation with Pakistan in various fields, including fisheries, information technology and agriculture.

They also conveyed the good wishes of Zhang Chun Xian, top Chinese leader of the Xinjiang region, to PM Nawaz.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2015.