RAWALPINDI, Aug 31: President Gen Pervez Musharraf directed the government on Wednesday to strive for optimum utilization of indigenous energy resources and finalize import options for uninterrupted supply of power to local and foreign industrial concerns.

“We will ensure that all business companies, particularly the foreign entrepreneurs, have uninterrupted supply of gas and electricity as it is imperative to maintain impetus to economic growth,” he said while presiding over a meeting on evolving the country’s energy strategy.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also attended the meeting, which focused on exploring all available options for fulfilling short and long-term energy requirements.

The president said foreign investment was vitally important in diversifying the economic base and the government should endeavour to extend requisite infrastructures to the prospective investors.

“We not only need to make full use of indigenous reserves but also work speedily to import electricity and gas from regional countries,” he said, referring to the options, including import of electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and natural gas from Turkmenistan, Iran and Qatar.

Referring to indigenous energy resources, the president underlined the need for maximizing hydropower generation and devising a plan for bolstering the production from 6,000MW, as the country had capacity to generate as much as 41,000MW.

Optimum utilization of energy resources was also important to achieve the goal of supplying electricity all over the country by 2007, he said.

The president said that while pursuing the strategy, emphasis should be on plugging gaps between policy formulation and implementation through regular review of demand and supply.

Pakistan, he said, also had large coal reserves, which needed to be developed, while alternative sources of energy, like solar and wind for remote areas, should also be a focus of the strategy.

The prime minister said the government was encouraging small hydropower projects to meet the growing needs of the agricultural sector.

He said the government was focused on maintaining higher growth in both the agricultural and industrial sectors and it would ensure higher allocations for materializing the necessary infrastructure, particularly the availability of energy.—APP