PM asks people to hold ‘sit-in politicians’ accountable

KASUR: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday asked the people to hold those accountable who had impeded the country’s development by resorting to sit-in politics. The prime minister said the politics of sit-ins delayed development schemes in the country. He said the era of seeking commissions and kickbacks for uplift programmes was now over and the country was moving on the path of progress and prosperity.
“The country will come out of the present crisis if we continue this progress for the next two years,” Nawaz said after laying the foundation stone of a 1,223MW power project in Balloki, Kasur district. The prime minister was briefed that the plant would start generating electricity from 2017 and would produce cheaper electricity, create new job opportunities and develop industrial and agriculture sectors.
Nawaz said on the occasion that it was for the first time in the history of Pakistan that massive savings were being secured in the implementation of new power projects, a proof of his government’s sincerity and transparency.
The premier said due to transparent international bidding and tender process by the government, the foreign power companies showed great confidence and gave low cost estimates for setting up new projects. He said a total of Rs110 billion had been saved in setting up three new power projects. He said Rs300 billion had been allocated for the power plants to start production.
Nawaz said the country was on the track of progress and development as inflation rate was at the lowest level in the last 15 years.
The Balloki power plant will work at61.63 percent working capacity, which is higher than the existing power plants. The cost of generation of per megawatt electricity from the plant will be $469,000, which is lower than other power plants.
APP adds: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said unprecedented savings of Rs110 billion in three re-gasified power projects and continuity in their completion would brighten up every home in the country. “If such determination, transparency and hard work had been displayed in the past, today’s Pakistan would have been quite different,” he said.
Savings in the Balloki power plant’s construction cost are Rs38.6 billion while annual savings achieved due to better efficiency would be Rs5.8 billion. He said the federal and Punjab governments were executing these projects for which they had allocated Rs300 billion in the Public Sector Development Programme.
The prime minister said unlike the past practices, nobody was demanding kickbacks and favours as complete transparency was adopted during the floating of international tenders. “Every single paisa has a value for us which will be spent on other public projects,” he added.
Nawaz said after the completion of power projects, millions of homes across the country, which had been facing 10-12 hour loadshedding in a day in the past, would get enough power.
The prime minister said construction work on various coal-fired projects was also under way. The interest rate was slashed to 5 to 6 percent contrary to a staggering 18 percent in the past.
The PM dismissed the ‘sit-ins politics’ and said if there were no such political moves, work on a number of projects would have started earlier, which would have now been nearing completion. He urged the people to ponder over the retrogressive ploys by certain elements, who wanted to clog the wheel of development.
The PM said farmers in the country felt a burden after a rise in the international input prices and decline in production. Cognizant of their woes, he said the government had launched a Rs341 billion unparalleled relief package for the farmers but certain elements also tried to block the same by indulging in negative politicking.
Nawaz lauded the proactive role of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for ending the power outages in the country through the installation of various power plants. “Credit goes to the Punjab chief minister who approached Chinese and other firms to invest in Pakistan in the power sector and his efforts paid dividends.”
Meanwhile, the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif here at the PM House. Matters pertaining to parliamentary affairs were discussed during the meeting, a PM Office statement said.
Our Lahore correspondent adds: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on the occasion that round-the-clock efforts being made under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for elimination of energy crisis were now bearing fruit.
He said 3,600 megawatts of electricity will be available to the people from gas-based projects in 2017.
He said the glorious success of the PML-N in the first phase of local government elections in the Punjab was a reflection of people’s confidence in the leadership of Nawaz Sharif.
He said out of five power projects, the Punjab government was setting up one project with its own resources.
CEO of National Power Parks project Rashid Mehmood told the function 400,000 families would be provided electricity from the Balloki power plant and 20 million population would benefit from it.
The vice president of China Harbon International, working on the project, said his company had completed nine electricity projects in Pakistan and assured that Balloki power plant project would also be completed speedily and within the stipulated time period.