Government is on on the path to eliminating loadshedding: Premier Nawaz

“If the government had been corrupt, would it be able to complete the development projects at such a rapid pace,” the PM asked while addressing a gathering in Sahiwal in connection with the inauguration of a coal power plant on Thursday evening.

“I congratulate those in attendance on the completion of the project in a record time of 22 months and to complete such a gigantic project pace in such an amount of time is unprecedented in the history of Pakistan.”

“Today there is no loadshedding of electricity or gas in the industries and there will be no power outage in the country after 2018,” he added.

Terrorism’s backbone, the premier added, has also been broken as their networks and infrastructure have been destroyed. “The economy has also started doing well as a growth rate of 5.3 per cent has been maintained.”

Out major objectives include bringing the power tariff down and making the utility affordable for all, he said. “We are building a network of roads in Balochistan,” PM said, and added “A highway is being built.

“A 2600-kilometre highway is being built all the way from Khunjerab border post at the China’s border to Gwadar and will be ready by 2019.”

Earlier, the PM inaugurated Sahiwal Coal Power Project, comprising of two plants with a total capacity of 1,320MW. It is one of the early harvest projects of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). At present, it is producing 660MW.

This power plant is environmentally compliant and the high thermal efficiency will result in less fuel usage. The annual power generation from the project is expected to exceed 9 Billion kWh, which will significantly contribute towards alleviating the energy crisis in the country. The project will produce electricity at a tariff of Rs8.11/unit.

The project was successfully completed by Huaneng Shandong Ruyi Pakistan Energy Private Limited, which executed the civil, electrical, and mechanical works.

Being close to the load centres, it will also improve grid stability and reduce line losses. The Sahiwal project has started delivering 660MW from unit no. 1 to the national grid from May 12, 2017.

Project managers hope to meet their target of reaching capacity from the first week of June 2017, which would be six months ahead of schedule and a record for fastest completion thus far.

Around 190 Pakistani young engineers trained at China have been hired for plant operations.

Article source: http://www.suchtv.pk/pakistan/general/item/54405-government-is-on-on-the-path-to-eliminating-loadshedding-premier-nawaz.html