Solar solutions

This refers to the letter ‘A project of delays’ (May 24) by Kulsoom Arif. That the 43-kilometres-long Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project has yet to be completed is appalling. The chief minister of Sindh has now quite conveniently said that the project will now be completed by the next government. An eight-member Chinese delegation has met the CM earlier this week and shown interest in the KCR project. It is hoped that the project now sees the light of the day. The Chinese delegation has also offered to work with the Sindh government to install solar panels. The chief minister welcomed the offer and urged them to install a plant to manufacture solar panels in Sindh.

But it may be mentioned that solar panels are being manufactured in Pakistan already. Why not ask China to install facilities to manufacture of solar cells? These cells – 100 to 200 of them on each panel – are the heart of a solar panel. Their raw materials – quartz and silica – are available in the northern areas of Pakistan and Sindh and they are available in inexhaustible quantities. If we install a factory for the manufacture of solar cells, we can meet the local demand and export them as well.

Air-Cdre (r) Azfar A Khan

Karachi