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Tuesday March 19, 2024

In response to your abuses,I pray God may guide you: Nawaz

Performs groundbreaking of 1,180MW power project; says power does not come by burning bills standing atop container; loadshedding to be eliminated by 2018;electricity to become cheaper

By our correspondents
October 10, 2015
BHIKKI (Sheikhupura): Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday said that politicians must give up the politics of abuses and allegations as power was not produced by burning power bills while standing atop a container. “I pray on your abuses, God may guide you.”
He assured the people that his government would fulfill its commitment to eliminate loadshedding before the completion of its current tenure in 2018 and electricity would be provided to them on cheaper and affordable tariff so that a prosperous future could be ensured for them.
Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of 1,180MW power plant here on Friday, he said that the economic revival of Pakistan was around the corner as economic turnaround was not far away and a bright future was ahead for Pakistan.
The Bhikki Power Project will cost Rs55 billion and the Punjab government has saved Rs38 billion in its cost by negotiating with the builders. The project will be completed in 2017 and its production would be made part of the national grid.
The PM revealed that the project that could have cost Rs95 billion as per the Nepra, would now be completed at the cost of Rs55 billion due to the transparent policies of the government.
The prime minister said that the PC-I of the project called for a higher cost of commissioning of the project. It could have been an easier choice for any crook government to exploit it for sheer popularity, he said. But the PML-N government did not believe in such tactics and treated the national funds as a sacred trust of the people. The project would save Rs360 billion in its project life of 30 years and the work on the Bhikki project and two other power projects would help the country save a whooping Rs1,080 billion.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that neither the country could progress nor electricity be produced just by chanting slogans and burning electricity bills while sitting on containers. Those who hurled baseless allegations from containers lacked the ability to understand what it meant to serve the nation selflessly. He said those criticising the government just for the sake of criticism were doing no service to the masses and added that he always prayed to Allah Almighty to guide such people to sanity.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif didn’t take the name of any of his opponents including Imran Khan in his extempore address. He claimed that inflation was at its lowest in the country’s history, economic indicators were positive and the world today was acknowledging the great economic turnaround. The government believed in serving the masses and was committed to providing cheap electricity to consumers, had made the exports viable, increased employment, enhanced agricultural yield and turned around the national economy.
He termed it a criminal offence of the previous governments that neglected the critical electricity generation. He said now the onus of rectifying the ills of the past was on this government which was doing its best to end the loadshedding by 2018.
He said that his government was striving to end the power shortages and was working on mega projects for an improvement in road networks across the country in a transparent manner. He told the gathering that Rs150 billion were being spent on resurfacing of the motorway project or the motorway could be ruined. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif mentioned the Neelum-Jhelum, Dasu Dam, Tarbela-IV, Thar Coal and several other projects on which work was going at a fast pace.
He regretted politicising of the ambitious “Kisan Package” and said the government was going in appeal and would like it revived as it would greatly help the farming community which was going through difficult times. He said the government was keen to install solar tubewells and provide a series of incentives for the farmers, but unfortunately some political parties were trying to subvert it.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif earlier performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the project here to be jointly commissioned by M/s Harben Electric International of China and the General Electric Company of the United States.
Project CEO of the Quaid-i-Azam Thermal Power (Pvt) Ltd, Ahad Khan Cheema, briefed the gathering about the salient features of the project. He said it was a modern turbine technology, running on imported LNG with back-up of high speed diesel.
The gas fired combined cycle power plant, to be completed in 2017, would be the country’s most fuel efficient power project and would meet all the government regulations. He claimed that the project cost was the lowest in the country and the region.