Pakistan could only progress under a democratic setup : PM Abbasi

Lahore : Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Friday said Pakistan could only progress and prosper under a democratic setup as technocrat and undemocratic forms of governance had failed to deliver in the past.

Addressing a ceremony after the inauguration of the Jhandial Gas Field here near Fatehjang, he said the government would continue to pursue the dynamic policies of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and take the country forward on a path of progress and prosperity.

He said the people of Pakistan would decide in 2018 as to who could serve them better in the days ahead, and took the country forward.

 The Prime Minister, who earlier held the portfolio of Minister for Petroleum, said the discovery at Jhandial was a very large discovery in Punjab after a long time, and hoped more successful discoveries would be possible in the near future.

Prime Minister Abbasi said Rs.15 billion had been invested in the Jhandial field by the Pakistan Oil Fields and Attock Oil and made the discovery at 18500 feet, one of the deepest wells in the country. He said the gas field promised reserves of at least 292 billion standard cubic feet of gas and 23 million barrels of oil per annum. He said the field would produce 21 million cubic feet per day gas equivalent to the needs for Rawalpindi and Islamabad. He said the field would also produce 2550 barrels per day and 50 tonnes LPG.

He hoped that the area around Jhandial and its people would benefit and prosper with the new discovery. He said all consumers of natural gas in the country; whether they belonged to the industrial, commercial or domestic sectors were getting uninterrupted supply of gas.

He said the PML-N government was proud to have made significant successes in the fields of oil and gas and 103 successful projects had been undertaken in the past four years. He said the achievements in the development sector in the past four years were many times more than those in the past 15 years. He said the present government despite numerous challenges had brought in 10,000 MW of electricity to the national grid.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also announced provision of natural gas for the villages and towns in the vicinity of the gas field.

Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif said the discovery at Jhandial was large and had high quality of hydrocarbons. He was appreciative of the hard work of the scientists and engineers who worked hard to make the project a success. He said the discovery, though in Punjab, was a discovery for the entire Pakistan.

The Chief Minister was also appreciative of the hard work put in by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who in his capacity as the Petroleum Minister pushed hard for the new successful discoveries.

He said all the federating units together were making Pakistan strong and prosperous. He said Pakistan besides fully exploiting the natural resources, also needs to optimally use other sources of energy to meet country’s energy needs.