Pak-Kyrgyzstan agreement on energy welcomed

LAHORE
Progressive Group, a representative platform of businessmen and traders, has welcomed the agreement between Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan for fostering cooperation between the two friendly countries with a special focus on energy sector and regional connectivity.
Both countries have also decided to enhance their bilateral relations in diverse areas including trade, economy, people-to-people contact and tourism.
Progressive Group’s President Khalid Usman, Vice-President Abdul Wadood Alvi and Secretary Information Muhammad Ejaz Tanveer in a joint statement issued on Friday congratulated the government on reaching agreements for a fast track development on CASA-1000 Projects which would help energy deficit Pakistan to meet its requirements. They said Pakistan’s industrial and economic growth heavily depended on electricity and the CASA-1000 could help in mitigating the woes.
They said that business and industrialists sector was time and again drawing the attention of the people at the helm of the affairs towards the ever increasing gap between the demand and generation of power, both in electricity and gas, which was forcing the industries and businesses to run on generators and other alternative methods adding to their cost of doing business. They said the government should utilise all the resources to meet the energy needs whether with the cooperation of neighbouring countries, such as Iran, China or Central Asian States or developing indigenous resources, such as big dams and water reservoirs and exploration for oil and gas.
The Progressive Group leaders said the electricity and gas were not the only need for the businesses but cheaper power sources so the government should go for hydel power projects as well as refrain from taking such steps which were adding to the price of already available gas and electricity. They pointed towards the imposition of the GIDC and said the government should provide an enabling environment to our industry so they could remain competitive in the international markets.
Khalid Usman, Abdul Wadood Alvi and Ejaz Tanveer reiterated that the government should pay attention towards developing big dams like Kalabagh and others with the consensus of the nation so that consumers, whether in Industrial sector or domestic, could have the cheaper electricity and agricultural sector could have abundant water for increasing the yield.