BAHAWALPUR: Power consumers in some 20 localities had to suffer five-hour outage on Saturday as the Multan Electric Power Company diverted the supply to the site for Quaid-i-Azam Solar Park for building its infrastructure.
The park site is located near Noorsar village about 18kms from here near the Southern bypass on Hasilpur road on the threshold of Cholistan desert. The park would be established over an area of about 15,000 acres of barren land.
Dawn has learnt that the site was provided electricity supply on an emergency basis on the directives of the federal as well as provincial governments to accelerate the pace of infrastructure construction there.
Mepco EXEN (constructions) Raeas Abdul Ahad confirmed the 1,200KV high tension supply line was energized on Thursday. It is learnt that the laying of a special transmission line from Bahawalpur to the site has cost about Rs40 million.
He said five power transformers, each having 200KV capacity, had been installed at the park site area to supply electricity for solar park installations to be carried out by a Chinese firm.
Under the directives of Punjab government, the local administration was presently busy making efforts to complete the infrastructure at the park site by August, 2014.
For the purpose, a 22km long road has been constructed from the city to the park site within just three months, besides installation of three heavy-duty pumps at Ahmedpur canal branch for supplying water to the site. After the completion of the infrastructure, the Chinese company would take over site for installation of solar panels there.
The first unit of 100MW solar power was expected to go into generation by the end of year.
With the shutting down of all the feeders of Baghdad-ul-Jadid grid station, consumers in some 20 localities faced five-hour outage from morning to midday.
DAIRY PROJECT: A USAID-funded project envisaging improvement in micro dairy enterprises concluded here on Thursday.
The project launched in July 2011 was aimed at increasing the income of the micro-entrepreneurs involved in milk production and marketing. A majority of these entrepreneurs are women.
It was claimed by the organisers Ali Akbar, Athar Lashari and others that the project had enhanced the capacity of over 8,000 dairy farmers, mostly women and of female village milk collectors (FVMCs).
USAID‘s Dr Daniel Lee, in his speech, claimed that his aid group worked to increase milk production through adoption of best farm practices, promoting small enterprises in the form of input supply hubs and developing commercial milk marketing channels.
Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2014