Nawaz lays foundation of 1,223MW power plant

Lauds efforts of the Punjab CM for installing a slew of power plants

LAHORE:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of a 1,223MW gas-based power project at Balloki as he lauded the efforts of the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif towards ending power outages in the country through installation of a slew of power plants.  

Addressing on the occasion, the prime minister said Punjab chief minister was doing hard work to ensure the cheapest and timely installation of coal, hydro and solar power projects across the province.



“The credit goes to the Punjab chief minister who approached Chinese and other firms to invest in Pakistan in the power sector and his efforts have paid dividends," he said. The premier also appreciated ministries and affiliated departments for their ‘dedicated efforts’ for implementation of these projects.



Addressing the audience, the CM Shahbaz Sharif said the prime minister had ordered to prepare for 3,600MW gas-based projects five months ago. “This 3,600MW electricity will be available to the Pakistani people from these gas-based projects by 2017,” he said.

He said work had been started on two of these projects. “The foundation stone of the third project has also been laid today,” he said, adding that one of the projects will be funded by Punjab government while the federal government will set up two projects.



“The hard work of present government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for completing energy projects with transparency, devotion and commitment is unprecedented in the history of the country,” he said.

Shahbaz said the glorious success of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the first phase of local government elections in Punjab reflected people’s confidence on the leadership of the PM Nawaz.  “It is a message that we should march forward for putting the economy on sound footing and removing darkness from the country,” he said.

He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was personally monitoring all power projects, including Neelam Jehlum and Tarbela-4 projects, and was holding regular meetings for reviewing their progress.

Shahbaz said that Chinese company Harban International and American company General Electric had set up Guddu Power Plant at the rate of $834,000 per megawatt and now these companies were setting up gas-based projects at $469,000 per megawatt at Balloki.



“It is a proof of the fact that these companies are well aware that under the PM’s leadership no politician or officer can demand any commission,” he said. The CM said due to transparent policies of the government, these companies were setting up these projects at a very low cost. “We have to maintain this standard and no one can change it,” he said.

Addressing the audience, the National Power Parks Project CEO Rashid Mehmood said 0.4 million families would be provided electricity from Balloki plant and a total of 20 million people will benefit from it.

“Modern machinery is being used in this project and its working capacity is 61.63 per cent,” he said, adding that Rs5.8 billion will be saved in fuel while Rs38.5 billion will be saved in construction cost.

“Cheap and environment-friendly electricity will be generated from this project and besides promotion of agriculture and industry, new job opportunities will be created,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2015.