KARACHI, Feb 15: Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister for Environment and Alternate Energy, Noman Saigol said on Tuesday that the Gharo windmill power project would cater 30 per cent power needs of Karachi.

Addressing to the inaugurating ceremony of the project at Gharo, he said that this first ever project of alternate energy in Sindh would be set up between Thatta and Gharo with a cost of $875 million by the private sector.

The adviser said the project would provide job opportunities to 30 to 40 thousand locals. Mr Saigol said that 16 firms of the USA, Japan and China were taking part in the project, while the government had put 19,700 acres of land in the project as a 30 to 50 per cent investment.

He said the project would provide electricity to the local industries and nearby villages. The adviser said that due to the keen interest of the president, the prime minister, Sindh chief minister and governor in the schemes of alternate energy, Sindh was becoming a choice province for the investors.

Mr Saigol invited the investors to come to Sindh and assured them that the government would provide them with all the necessary cooperation. He said that if needed the federal government would be asked to provide extra incentives to the investors.

The adviser added that the windmill project was just a beginning and more such projects would be introduced, phase-wise. Alternate Energy Development Board Chairman Air Marshal (retd) Shahid Hamid said on the occasion that the project would have a 50 megawatt capacity which would be increased to 100 megawatt and later to 800 to 900 megawatt by the year 2010.

Secretary Environment Shamsul Haq Memon, DCO Gharo and many local and foreign investors were also present on the occasion. -PPI