RAWALPINDI, June 24: The Punjab minister for energy and mines, Chaudhry Sher Ali, on Monday visited Losar, a landfill site in Rawalpindi, to inspect a pilot project which produces gas from solid waste for electricity generation.

Accompanied by City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) officials, the minister visited the place and said there was no immediate solution to end the energy shortage in the country.

“If there is an immediate solution, it is bound to be short lived,” he said, adding that there was dire need to find a permanent solution.

He said the provincial government, led by Shahbaz Sharif, was working on the project to explore alternate sources of energy and stop wastage of electricity, and a plan would soon be finalised in this regard.

The provincial minister blamed the previous governments for not taking steps for energy generation stating that due to the poor performance in the past, the present government would have to start work from zero.

Mr Sher Ali also asked the public to realise that saving electricity was its role. “People must realise their moral and national duty to help the government stop electricity wastage,” he said.

Earlier, Punjab’s urban unit consultant for waste to energy), Mohammad Usman Hanif, informed the minister that the government would invenst Rs792 million to produce gas from 600 to 700 tones of solid waste dumped daily at the landfill site.

“With this investment, the solid waste will produce five megawatt electricity within nine months,” he said, adding that seven wells had been dug in Losar to produce the gas.—A Reporter