Shahbaz Sharif visits Mahatma Gandhi power plant

Lahore: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that cooperation of any country will be sought for ridding the people of Pakistan of darkness. He said that he has already visited Turkey, Germany and China to acquire cooperation in energy sector and his efforts have proved useful. He said that the basic purpose of his visit to India is to benefit from its experiences in generation of electricity.He was addressing a briefing during his visit to Mahatma Gandhi Power project in Haryana, India.

The Chief Minister said that he was pleased to know that 1600 megawatt electricity was being produced at Mahatma Gandhi Power Plant from the local and imported coal. He said that as the quality of Indian coal is close to that which found in Pakistan therefore, there is no reason why Pakistan cannot set up a similar plant for meeting its energy requirements. He said that during next two days of his tour of India he will visit solar energy and coal-based power plants in more Indian cities.

He said that technology is not the exclusive right of anyone and it is a matter of pleasure that Indian government and power companies have displayed large heartedness towards providing useful information to Pakistan in energy sector. He said that if India can produce surplus electricity then people of Pakistan can also overcome load-shedding through hard work, honesty and better strategy. Shahbaz Sharif said that darkness is not the destiny of Pakistan and Pakistan will also be able to eliminate darkness and join those countries which have abundant electricity. He said that the dream of industrial and agriculture development cannot be realized without overcoming shortage of energy and that is why Pakistan Muslim League-N government is attaching top priority to elimination of load-shedding.

Later, talking to media, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif said that he is ready to visit any country for seeking cooperation for resolving energy crisis. Replying to a question, he said that Pakistan would welcome Indian offer for the supply of electricity to Pakistan at reasonable rate.