Past rulers will have to be answerable in people’s court: Shahbaz

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said the past rulers will have to be answerable in people’s court for increasing masses problems, adding they (previous rulers) made the country bankrupt and ruined the economy. 

He said due to criminal negligence of the past rulers, the country plunged into darkness. The past rulers usurped the national resources but paid no heed to the energy crisis. One group plunged the country into darkness while the other created hindrances in the efforts aimed at removing the darkness from country.

Hard work of the PML-N government has borne fruit and it is the result of government efforts that thousands of megawatts of electricity has been added to the system, he added. The chief minister said it is high time to end the darkness prevailing in the country for the last many years. He expressed these views while talking to a PML-N delegation in London. 

As a result, loadshedding has been controlled to a large extent. The Sahiwal Coal Power plant is producing 1,320MW while 400MW solar projects have been completed in the Quaid-i-Azam Solar Park Bahawalpur. He said the Punjab government has decided to set up a new gas power plant of 1,200 MW capacity to meet the energy needs of future. The gas-based energy projects will provide cheap electricity. 

He said a new history of hard work, honesty, transparency, dedication and continued work has been written with regards to progress on energy projects. The credit goes to the PML-N government that a hefty amount of Rs168 billion has been saved in 3,600 megawatt gas-based project. 

There is no example of such savings in the development projects in the country’s history. The energy projects are harbingers of development and prosperity as millions of people would benefit from them.

He said China has made investments in different sectors to the tune of billions of dollars and as much as $36 billion have been invested in energy projects. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has opened doors for foreign investment in Pakistan and this economic initiative will benefit all the countries of the region.