DAHARKI, May 24: President General Pervez Musharraf on Thursday invited private sector and foreign investors to set up power plants in the country to help meet its energy requirements.

He said after laying foundation-stone for 175 megawatt power plant in Daharki, some 57 kilometres from Karachi, that the country was faced with serious energy shortfalls, and offered lucrative returns to investors for putting their money into power sector.

He said that the government was working on short, medium and long-term strategy to meet power shortages and he was looking at all sorts of sources for power generation including water, gas, coal, alternative and nuclear energy.

Mr Musharraf said that the government had removed bottlenecks to facilitate investors and formulated investor-friendly policies. The Foreign Direct Investment in the country had risen to $6 billion from $300 million in 1999 and the country's per capita income had doubled, he said.

He said that the locals must be given a priority in jobs and stressed that it was the responsibility of project manager to ensure social and economic uplift of the area by providing health, education and other basic facilities.

He stressed the need for upgrading electricity generation, transmission and distribution and praised Korean private sector for investing in Pakistan's power sector.

Earlier, the president unveiled the plaque of foundation-stone of the US$200 million Combined Cycle power plant that was scheduled to be completed by June 2009.

The plant, provided by Korean Dosan power manufacturing company, would be the first in the country to use low BTU gas.

Lt Gen (retd) Syed Arif Hussain, managing director of Fauji Foundation Corporation, said that the plant would provide power to the industrial units of the area as well as domestic users.

He said that FFC was working for the welfare of 10 million ex-servicemen. The corporation had set up 11 hospitals, medical centres, 88 mobile dispensaries, 98 schools, two colleges, one university and a medical college and paid Rs33 billion in government taxes annually, he said.

Seong Eun Hong, executive vice-president of Dosan, said that the project would greatly contribute to power generation. The company had plans to make more investments in future in Pakistan's power sector, he said.

Later, talking to people’s representatives at the residence of State Minister for Railways Sardar Khalid Khan Lund the president called upon them to speed up pace of development schemes.

He stressed the need for rapid development in the province particularly in remote areas to create employment and eliminate poverty, said Sindh Irrigation Minister Nadir Akmal Leghari after meeting with the president.

Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Minister for Water and Power Liaqat Jatoi, Sindh Revenue Minister Dr. Irfan Gul Magsi, Sardar Ahmed Yar Khan, Sardar Haji Khan Chachar, Fayyaz Khan Lund, Mohammad Parial Khan Rehar and Mian Abdul Mannan were also present.—APP