Govt starts uplift projects to facilitate people: Dar

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had launched several development projects to improve economy and facilitate the people.

He said that Nandipur, Dasu, Bhasha, Neelum-Jhelum and other projects would be completed in near future to meet the growing demand of energy in the country.

Talking to the official television, he said that PML-N government was taking all important steps to streamline the system. Ishaq Dar said the government had paid circular debt to bring improvement in the energy sector.

Ishaq Dar said that budget deficit had been reduced due to the dynamic policies of the present government.

He said that a large number of people would be provided assistance through Income Support Programme.

The finance minister said that the PML-N was following its manifesto given during the election campaign.

Replying to a question, he said that present government wanted to produce 40,000MW electricity through different resources for achieving speedy progress in all the sectors.

Ishaq Dar said that a huge amount was allocated for fee reimbursement programme of the students.

To another question, he said the government was not getting any dictation from International Monitory Funds (INF).

He said that an additional amount would be given to the provincial governments to bring prosperity in the country.

Meanwhile, the World Bank (WB) Country Director for Pakistan, Rachid Benmessaoud, expressed the hope that the board of the bank would approve assistance for Dasu Project.

“We are working day and night for board meeting to be held on June 10 and hope that the assistance for Dasu Project will be approved,” he said during his meeting with Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar here.

During the meeting WB Country Director assured the finance minister that things were moving positively for Pakistan at the World Bank.

He said that they were encouraged by the positive trends of the economic indicators.

The meeting was also attended by Shahid Mahmood, Special Assistant to the Finance Minister and senior officials of the Finance Ministry.

Ishaq Dar informed the Country Director that Pakistan’s economy was moving in the right direction and that we would continue to engage with multilateral fora including World Bank for assistance in energy and infrastructure development programmes initiated by the government.

He added, in line with the vision of the prime minister to make Pakistan developed and prosperous country, the government has embarked upon a plan to meet the energy requirements and make Pakistan an economically viable country.

He emphasized that World Bank’s assistance in energy and development projects particularly on Dasu Dam and CASA -1000 will help Pakistan progress.

New projects to generate power, jobs, says Nawaz

 

SAHIWAL: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday, inaugurating the first coal-fired power plant in Punjab, said that new projects will generate electricity and create scores of jobs in the country. He opened a landmark coal-fired plant that would generate 1,320MW of electricity and help the country meet its energy shortage.
The project comprising two units of 660MWs each will be operational in two years and will start adding electricity to the national grid by 2016. The PM said the project would not only help meet the electricity shortage but also create employment for the people of the Sahiwal district and contribute to the national gross domestic product.

The PM recalled the love of the people of Sahiwal. “You are being duly rewarded for standing by the PML-N,” he said and added he was grateful to the people of Sahiwal for their support. He said the people of Sahiwal would again benefit from the soon-to-be inaugurated Lahore-Karachi Motorway. He said Rs55 billion had been allocated for acquisition of land for building the motorway. The PM mentioned the efforts and commitment of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in making the dream of a developed Pakistan come true.

The PM said the government was toiling day and night to meet the energy shortfall. He regretted that despite 23,000MW installed capacity in the country, the operational capacity was only around 13,000MW and vowed that in the next eight to 10 years his government would10 years his government would double the power generation.

He recalled the inauguration of a similar power project to generate 1320MW electricity at Port Qasim a few weeks back and would be inaugurating the Nandipur power project on Saturday. He mentioned the Pakistan-China trade corridor project and termed it a “game changer” for both the countries as the 2,700km long link from Kashgar to Gwadar. He said the highway passing through all the provinces of the country would open up new vistas of development and progress.

He said Rs35 billion had been allocated for acquisition of land for the Bhasha Dam and the money had already been released. He said the project would generate 4500MW, while the Dasu Dam would also generate an equal amount of electricity and added that with the completion of the Neelum-Jhelum Project, the total installed capacity would almost double from the current generation.

The PM said he had a dream of turning the Gwadar Port into a Dubai, Singapore or Hong Kong and it would have a modern shipping port and an international airport.The PM mentioned that 10 power units would be set up at Gadani, six in Punjab, 10 at Thar and hoped the country’s energy needs would be fulfilled.

Nawaz said the economic indicators of the country were positive and GDP had risen to 4.1 percent, manufacturing up by 5.5 percent while foreign exchange reserves had gone up enormously.

Our Correspondent adds from Lahore: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the most modern coal power project of 1320MW in Sahiwal would be completed in record time period. He said it was the first coal-based power project, being installed with the cooperation of Chinese companies in Punjab. He said loadshedding would be eliminated under the leadership of PM Nawaz Sharif and more coal power plants of this kind would be set up in the province.

Shahbaz Sharif said in order to stabilise national economy and promote agriculture and industrial sectors, Nawaz Sharif accepted this challenge and evolved a comprehensive strategy for resolving energy crisis. Similarly, he said, the cost of electricity produced from fuel is very high. He said with regard to medium-term planning, generation of power from coal costs almost half compared to fuel while this project can be completed in a comparatively shorter period of time.

Shahbaz said Pakistan did not have oil or gas reserves like Middle Eastern countries, however, it is fortunate to have a leader like Nawaz Sharif who has extraordinary power of decision-making and determination. He said PM Nawaz Sharif worked day and night for power generation projects and in a meeting of Joint Economic Commission of China and Pakistan held on February 19, 2014 in Beijing it was agreed that power projects of 20 thousand megawatts will be set up in Pakistan during the next seven years and this has been made possible due to invaluable cooperation of Pakistan’s greatest friend, China.

The CM also thanked provincial ministers concerned especially Malik Nadeem Kamran, Walait Shah Khagga and his son as well as assembly members from Sahiwal, elected representatives, chief secretary, senior member Board of Revenue, additional chief secretary energy and other officials and said the entire team worked very hard to acquire land for the project in a transparent manner and it deserves all credit.

New projects to generate power, jobs, says Nawaz

 

SAHIWAL: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday, inaugurating the first coal-fired power plant in Punjab, said that new projects will generate electricity and create scores of jobs in the country. He opened a landmark coal-fired plant that would generate 1,320MW of electricity and help the country meet its energy shortage.
The project comprising two units of 660MWs each will be operational in two years and will start adding electricity to the national grid by 2016. The PM said the project would not only help meet the electricity shortage but also create employment for the people of the Sahiwal district and contribute to the national gross domestic product.

The PM recalled the love of the people of Sahiwal. “You are being duly rewarded for standing by the PML-N,” he said and added he was grateful to the people of Sahiwal for their support. He said the people of Sahiwal would again benefit from the soon-to-be inaugurated Lahore-Karachi Motorway. He said Rs55 billion had been allocated for acquisition of land for building the motorway. The PM mentioned the efforts and commitment of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in making the dream of a developed Pakistan come true.

The PM said the government was toiling day and night to meet the energy shortfall. He regretted that despite 23,000MW installed capacity in the country, the operational capacity was only around 13,000MW and vowed that in the next eight to 10 years his government would10 years his government would double the power generation.

He recalled the inauguration of a similar power project to generate 1320MW electricity at Port Qasim a few weeks back and would be inaugurating the Nandipur power project on Saturday. He mentioned the Pakistan-China trade corridor project and termed it a “game changer” for both the countries as the 2,700km long link from Kashgar to Gwadar. He said the highway passing through all the provinces of the country would open up new vistas of development and progress.

He said Rs35 billion had been allocated for acquisition of land for the Bhasha Dam and the money had already been released. He said the project would generate 4500MW, while the Dasu Dam would also generate an equal amount of electricity and added that with the completion of the Neelum-Jhelum Project, the total installed capacity would almost double from the current generation.

The PM said he had a dream of turning the Gwadar Port into a Dubai, Singapore or Hong Kong and it would have a modern shipping port and an international airport.The PM mentioned that 10 power units would be set up at Gadani, six in Punjab, 10 at Thar and hoped the country’s energy needs would be fulfilled.

Nawaz said the economic indicators of the country were positive and GDP had risen to 4.1 percent, manufacturing up by 5.5 percent while foreign exchange reserves had gone up enormously.

Our Correspondent adds from Lahore: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the most modern coal power project of 1320MW in Sahiwal would be completed in record time period. He said it was the first coal-based power project, being installed with the cooperation of Chinese companies in Punjab. He said loadshedding would be eliminated under the leadership of PM Nawaz Sharif and more coal power plants of this kind would be set up in the province.

Shahbaz Sharif said in order to stabilise national economy and promote agriculture and industrial sectors, Nawaz Sharif accepted this challenge and evolved a comprehensive strategy for resolving energy crisis. Similarly, he said, the cost of electricity produced from fuel is very high. He said with regard to medium-term planning, generation of power from coal costs almost half compared to fuel while this project can be completed in a comparatively shorter period of time.

Shahbaz said Pakistan did not have oil or gas reserves like Middle Eastern countries, however, it is fortunate to have a leader like Nawaz Sharif who has extraordinary power of decision-making and determination. He said PM Nawaz Sharif worked day and night for power generation projects and in a meeting of Joint Economic Commission of China and Pakistan held on February 19, 2014 in Beijing it was agreed that power projects of 20 thousand megawatts will be set up in Pakistan during the next seven years and this has been made possible due to invaluable cooperation of Pakistan’s greatest friend, China.

The CM also thanked provincial ministers concerned especially Malik Nadeem Kamran, Walait Shah Khagga and his son as well as assembly members from Sahiwal, elected representatives, chief secretary, senior member Board of Revenue, additional chief secretary energy and other officials and said the entire team worked very hard to acquire land for the project in a transparent manner and it deserves all credit.

Dar directs IPDF to come up with clear ideas on doable projects

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance, Mohammad Ishaq Dar here on Saturday directed the Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF) to come up with clear ideas on doable projects in both energy and infrastructure development sectors.

The minister chaired a meeting of IPDF to discuss professional functioning of the Facility and get a briefing on doable projects in energy and infrastructure development.

In the detailed presentation IPDF team explained that Public Private Partnership model can be put in place in energy and infrastructure development sectors of the country on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model.

They said that there is huge potential in these sectors and if properly employed it can not only save valuable foreign exchange for the country but would also generate economic activity in the country.

The IPDF Chief Executive Officer, Adil Anwar presented comparative study of Karachi-Lahore Motorway, Deep Sea Jetty and a number of energy related projects on PPP model.

The Finance Minister said that IPDF must come out with clear ideas on doable projects in both energy and infrastructure development sectors.

He said that IPDF should focus on stand alone energy projects in remote areas of the country with special focus on employing the potential in solar and wind energy generation.

Moreover, clear concepts on setting up of domestic solar panel industry should also be evaluated, he added.

The minister said that transparency and competitiveness should be the hallmark of the Public Private Partnership and instead of consuming PSDP local investors should be encouraged in infrastructure development.

Ishaq Dar emphasized that the professional work of IPDF should be directed at offering well prepared services to the public sector in designing of new projects and rehabilitation of the projects which are not delivering up to their maximum capacity.

He said that in line with the manifesto of the PML-N the projects should focus on domestic investment and local employment generation in both urban and rural areas.

"We will have to work hard to materialize the growth targets and economic development in the country", he added.