Govt wants to boost renewable energy sector: minister

LAHORE : Punjab Minister for Energy Dr Muhammad Akhtar has said that work is under way on various projects in the province to utilise alternative energy sources in line with international standards to tackle climate change and generate cheap electricity to meet local needs.

He was addressing a meeting of the Punjab Power Development Board chaired by him here.

The minister said that the PTI government is committed to boosting renewable energy sector for which it had increased the annual budget from five to seven billion rupees.

The meeting was also attended among others by Additional Secretary Companies Aslam Shahid, Additional Secretary Admin Tayyab Farid and heads of public sector companies of the department.

The meeting reviewed the performance of the boards of the companies. Showing concern on certain board members remaining absent from meetings, the minister directed for replacing their slots with more qualified experts.

He said the plan to generate electricity from waste was of immense important so the work should be expedited on it and the summary of Solid Waste to Energy Project should be moved latest by next week. Dr Akhtar directed the participants that meetings of the boards of all the companies should be held regularly, ongoing projects of affordable electricity should be completed in given time and new projects should be introduced.

He asked the heads of the companies to send details of the proceedings of the previous meetings and the targets achieved so far.