LAHORE: Prime Minis­ter Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday issued directives for speedy completion of solar and wind energy projects.

While chairing a meeting on renewable energy, he said it was the government’s main priority to encourage the production of electricity through solar and wind energy sources.

The renewable sources would produce low-cost and environment-friendly electricity, he added.

PM Sharif pointed out that the last (PTI’s) government did not complete the solar and wind energy projects started by the previous government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. The 220 million people of Pakistan suffered due to “criminal negligence” and “incompetency” of the last government, he added.

The premier said work on solar power projects of 10,000 megawatts was continuing at a fast pace.

He asked relevant institutions to immediately prepare a strategy for benefiting from the available solar and wind resources.

The participants of the meeting were informed about the current wind and solar energy resources in the country, the pace of work on the ongoing projects, and the delayed projects.

Besides the current 10,000 megawatts renewal energy projects, the meeting was informed that solar and wind power projects of 6,000 megawatts were also considered to produce environment-friendly and low-cost energy.

Ministers Ishaq Dar, Khurram Dastgir, Ahsan Iqbal, Special Assistant to PM Jehanzeb Khan and Adviser Ahad Cheema attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2023