Punjab Cabinet met to commend Sharif Brothers

Lahore : A special meeting of the provincial Cabinet was held, here today, under the chair of Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif. The meeting paid rich tributes to the leadership abilities and vision of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif for ending the electricity crisis in the country.While addressing the meeting, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that a dream has been materialized today.

Provincial Minister for Law Rana Sanaullah presented the resolution of gratitude in appreciation of sincere efforts made by the Prime Minister as well as the Chief Minister Punjab to end the energy crisis; all the members of the cabinet approved the resolution with consensus.

It has been stated in the resolution of gratitude that this meeting of the Punjab Cabinet pays tributes to the vision and leadership abilities of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif aimed at ending the acute electricity crisis in the country.

Under this vision and leadership abilities of Prime Minister and the Chief Minister Punjab, Government of Pakistan as well as the Punjab Government initiated different electricity generation projects in 2013. These projects included important initiatives including Bhikki Power Project, Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power Project, Sahiwal Coal Power Project, Haweli Bahadur Shah Power Project, Balloki Power Project and Zonergy Solar Power Project. As a result of these projects, 5000MW electricity will be included in national grid by December 2017; while around 9000 MW electricity will be available by March 2018.

This meeting of the Punjab Cabinet expresses its satisfaction over the start of Pakistan’s largest coal power plant in Sahiwal, and the completion of largest 1320MW power plant which is the pioneering CPEC-specific initiative. It is a matter of pride for us that this 1320MW power plant has set a world record due to its completion in a short span of 22 months. We especially pay rich tributes to the efforts of Chief Minister Punjab for materializing this success.

This meeting of the Punjab Cabinet commends hard work and efforts of Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, federal ministries including petroleum, water and power, development, planning and reforms, finance, railways, ports and shipping, Punjab Energy Department and concerned officers for giving practical shape to  the vision of the Prime Minister. It expresses the hope  that these projects of historic nature, which have been set up to increase the production of electricity, will not only help to remove the darkness, but will also prove as milestone in the development of the country due to their utility and transparency.

The inaugural-day of 1320MW Sahiwal Coal Power Project is a historic occasion in the history of Pakistan, as well as a day of joy for the people of Pakistan and the Punjab. During the last four years, utmost hard work was carried out, day and night, for energy projects. China has also expressed its utmost confidence over the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif for ending of energy crisis. He said that Sahiwal Coal Power Project is 100% Chinese investment. He said that undue delay occurred in energy projects due to sit-ins. Had there been no sit-ins, then quite a number of important projects, including the Sahiwal Coal Power Project, would have been completed eight months earlier. The sit-ins have heavily damaged the public welfare projects and prosperity of the country; while due to the non-democratic attitudes of the elements indulged in sit-ins, visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pakistan was postponed in 2014. Due to the postponement of this important visit of Chinese President, agreements were delayed; but despite of all these obstacles and hurdles, the projects have been carried out with hard work, honesty and dedication. Due to the tremendous kindness of Allah Almighty and efforts of the team members, successes have been achieved.

The Chief Minister said that hard work of engineers and workers of this project of national importance is praise-worthy. He said that the second plant of 660 megawatt will also start producing electricity from this month; and due to it, this project will produce 1320 megawatt electricity. The Chief Minister said that the people have not witnessed such beautiful scenes earlier; and added that the story of speedy completion of projects is filled with transparency and hard work. The completion of Sahiwal Coal Power Project, in a record period of time, is a unanimous success of Pakistan and the Punjab; and we are thankful to Chinese leadership and the government in this regard, he added.

The meeting also approved giving of special reward to engineers and workers working on Sahiwal Coal Power Project. The meeting congratulated Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and people Pakistan and Punjab for rendering sincere efforts for the eradication of energy crisis in the country; and ensuring completion of Sahiwal Coal Power Project in a record period of time.

ACS Energy gave detailed briefing about the efforts and development made on energy projects from 2013 to 2017; and informed that the country was facing electricity shortfall of around 45 percent in 2013; and today, many of energy projects have been completed, while many others are near to completion. Different projects of 3000 megawatt have been made operational by the government and work on different projects of 14000 megawatt is in progress. These projects amount to 30 billion dollars, he added and said that such a large investment in the energy sector has never ever been made in the history of Pakistan.

Provincial Ministers, Advisors, Special Assistants, Chief Secretary, high officials and Secretaries of concerned departments, attended the meeting.