THE Orange Line project was devised and executed under the ambit of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during the last tenure of PML-N government, and was portrayed in the media as the poster-child of the government’s progressive approach.

However, the upcoming years have proven Orange Line to be a white elephant as billions of rupees are being spent on an annual basis to keep it moving.

It is an eye-opener as a lot of money is being spent on projects that are not self-sustainable and are milking a lot of revenue from the treasury.

In order to turn the table, the possibility of running Orange Line on solar energy may be explored. There is ample space available on the roofs of the stations for the installation of solar panels on them.

If the stations are covered with solar panels, it is highly expected that most of the energy needed to run the trains can be easily met.

This will not only help bring down electricity expenditure and make the project self-sustainable, but also relieve the national grid of considerable load. The electricity thus saved may be provided to other domestic or commercial consumers.

Besides, the generated solar energy will have a good impact on the environment as it is a clean and green energy source.

M.Z. Javed
Lahore

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2022