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RAWALPINDI, Aug 22: President General Pervez Musharraf has called for a target-oriented strategy to ensure uninterrupted supply of gas and electricity to potential investors in the industrial sector.
The president expressed the government’s resolve to tap indigenous resources and import gas and electricity from regional countries to fulfil the country’s growing energy requirements.
He was addressing a meeting held to review Pakistan’s energy requirements in the light of recent growth in the industrial sector. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also attended the meeting.
Assuring all-out facilitation to local and foreign entrepreneurs, the president said the government viewed provision of requisite energy futuristically to sustain its onward march on the path of high economic growth.
He particularly highlighted the importance of sustaining momentum in the industrial sector which has maintained robust growth in the last two fiscal years.
“We must map out a clear roadmap to achieve these targets to bring about a visible improvement in the quality of life of our people and to meet the growing energy requirements for our industrial development,” the president said.
In the context of meeting energy needs in the agriculture and industrial fields, President Musharraf said the government would focus on making full use of its indigenous resources and also look for options to import gas and electricity from Central Asian and Gulf states.
Continuing, he said, Pakistan was in the process of examining options of energy import in view of its fast-growing economy and concurrently focusing on development of its vast hydro, coal and natural gas resources.
The chairman of Wapda, SNGPL and SSGPL were also present.n
WATER AND ELECTRICITY: President Musharraf reiterated his pledge to provide safe drinking water and electricity to the entire country by 2007.
Observing that the UN had also set provision of water among its millennium development goals, the president said Pakistan should endeavour to achieve this goal ahead of the UN target of 2015.
President Musharraf said that rural electrification would provide a new impetus to the agriculture sector and boost the economy of 70 per cent of the rural population.
He noted with satisfaction that Wapda had substantially improved its energy capacity as it was now able to provide electricity to 13,000 villages annually in contrast with a mere 1,109 six years ago.
“All our efforts should be geared towards better civic amenities for our people at grassroot level and also lift their economic lot,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the government was committed to passing the benefits of economic progress to the grassroot level and would make available the requisite financial resources to meet development goals.
The prime minister said availability of safe water would help reduce the burden on the healthcare system as 60 per cent of diseases are water-borne.
The meeting set out the target of electrifying 21,882 additional villages by 2007 while 7,500 remote villages would be provided energy from alternative sources such as the wind and the sun.
Ministers for water and power, petroleum and natural resources, environment and science and technology briefed the meeting about existing resources and implementation of devised strategies. —APP
