ISLAMABAD: Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir on Wednesday while reffering to the government’s plan of solarisation termed it the foundation for providing inexpensive electricity to the masses, and added that the government will not set up any new power projects based on imported fuel in the future.
The minister said the government had decided to optimally utilise indigenous sources of energy instead of relying on expensive imported fuel for generation of electricity. “The shift will not only help lessen the burden on the national exchequer but would also provide power to consumers at an affordable rate.”
Similarly, he informed that it had also been decided to convert expensive power projects running on costly imported fuel to local fuel.
Addressing a press conference here, the minister said that the proposed solar energy project would be completed at earliest under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He said that solar projects with a capacity of 1-4 MW will be set up in rural areas and in all government buildings in the first phase. “Both local and foreign investors have shown keen interest in investing in solar energy projects,” he added.
The power minister informed that investors were being briefed on a 600 MW initial solar project whereas the government plans to add 11,000 MW of electricity to the national grid in the coming years. About the former, he said that the project would be awarded to the lowest bidder.
About other sources of energy, Dastgir said that coal and oil prices had witnessed a sharp increase of 300-400 per cent in the international market during the current year, therefore these options were not viable in the long term either. On the other hand, he said that prices of solar and wind energy were around 50-60 per cent less than other fuels. “All new power projects will be set up on local resources including wind, solar, hydel, nuclear and Thar coal,” he informed.
He said that the government is currently working on a number of such power projects which will add 2000 MW to the national grid by next year.
One such project, the power minister informed, was the Lahore-Matiari–Lahore transmission line which had already been operationalised, adding that various projects will now be set up where the transmission line is available.
Similarly, he said that electricity will be generated through wind power projects which will be initiated side by side with solar power projects.
With regard to hydro power, he said the Karot project started producing power in June 2022.
About coal projects, he said that the 1,320 MW Shanghai Thar coal power project will start supplying generated power by the end of 2022.
Wrapping up his presser, the power minister criticiosed the last government saying that the incumbent government inherited a Rs2,468 billion circular debt and Rs5,600 billion budget deficit. He claimed that the present government had reduced Rs 258 billion circular debt in the last three months.
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