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LAHORE: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Monday said that province has planned to develop 24 power projects with a cumulative generation capacity of 2,100 mega watt in next ten years to overcome energy crisis.
Addressing the National Energy Conference here, he said, “We on our part have prepared Hydel Development Action Plan 2011-2025 by taking on board all the political parties and stakeholders to ensure its continuety even after the present provincial government”. Under this action plan, he added, the projects that would substantially contribute to enhancing hydel power supply in the country, would kick start by mid this month.
He said that this action plan had been put in order to develop 24 medium-size hydel power projects with total potential of 2,100MW with a total cost of around Rs 330 billion during next ten years.
Amir Haider Khan Hoti assured that people of KPK were ready to share the energy shortfall burden of other provinces as well in the best interest of the country and its people. The people of KPK, he resolved, would continue to work and fight for the survival and advancement of Pakistan.
In his address, the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah appriciated the Prime Miniter and Punjab Government for holding an opportunity rewarding National Energy Conference and said the event would help resolve the energy crisis in a more effective manner. The power shortage was affecting all sectors of life and creating economic constraints, and this situation needed to be addressed at the earliest through joint efforts for adding more mega watt power in the national grid to balance the demand and supply of electricity.
Qaim Ali Shah also enumerated the Sindh government initiatives for power generation through its available resources including the Thar Coal potential.
The Sindh Chief Minsiter also mentioned the energy policy given by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed in 1994 and said the BB's future vision on energy proved very helpful in saving the country's entire power system from total collaspe today. During her that tenure, he added, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed had opened up new avenues for private investment in power sector to overcome acute crisis by generating 6,500MW. As a result of this success, private sector provides 40 percent of the power generated in Pakistan. The then BB's government had also initiated the 1,450MW Ghazi Broth hydropower project as well as Chashma Nuclear Power Project in the public sector that also proved very helpful in maintaining the power demand supply level, he said.
In his address, the Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Khan Raisani also stressed the need for collaborative and concerted measures to enhance the power generation that would ultimately ensure Pakistan economic development and people's prosperity.
