LAHORE, Feb 3: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Monday sought financial help from China for a 600 megawatt project, which the province will launch shortly to get more power and irrigation water.

Talking to Chinese Ambassador-designate to Pakistan Zhang Chunxiang, who called on him here, the chief minister said the province needed support from the international monetary institutions for the project.

He said there were ample opportunities for Sino-Pak cooperation in economic, irrigation and transport sectors. He apprised the ambassador of the province’s economic reforms.

He said Pakistan and China were close friends. He added that he visited China when he was the Punjab Assembly speaker a few years ago and still remembered the hospitality of the hosts.

The Chinese ambassador assured his country’s support for the promotion of mutual trade.

Earlier, the chief minister while presiding over a meeting directed the Information Technology department to immediately start computerizing the land revenue and registration, and driving and weapons licences’ record.

To check the crime rate and the car-lifting incidence, he said, it was necessary to computerize bio-data of criminals. He added that the traffic police should have a complete record of the vehicles’ registration to take quick action.

He stressed the need for promoting computer culture for making the official system speedy and transparent. He also called for enhancing the network of the computer training for government functionaries.

The participants were informed that Sialkot was being computerized as a model IT district.