LAHORE: The Punjab government has chalked out a comprehensive energy plan and is endeavouring to provide additional resources to the energy sector so that energy needs are met in the industrial, agriculture and domestic sectors, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Thursday.
Presiding over a high-level meeting at his Minar-e-Pakistan tent office, the CM said that the government was taking concrete and comprehensive steps to overcome the energy crisis so that people could be provided relief. He said all-out encouragement was being extended to promote private investment for electricity generation.
Shahbaz said that the general public, industrialists, labourers and farmers were equally worried over the painful load shedding of electricity, as life itself had become miserable due to the energy crisis. He said that industrial and agriculture sectors of Punjab were being severely damaged due to dearth of electricity and gas.
He said the Energy Department was pursuing an active energy policy, in collaboration with all stakeholders, and the private sector was being motivated to fully benefit from investment opportunities in the energy sector.He directed the officials concerned to further accelerate development work being carried out to generate energy from different sources, including solar energy, biogas and coal.
He said that the provision of land for future energy projects ought to be made part of energy policy of provincial government. He said that 8,500 tube wells in the province were operating on diesel, whereas operating these tube wells on biogas would benefit farmers a great deal.The CM directed officials concerned to provide special facility to small farmers, up to agricultural land holding of 12.5 acres, under the policy of operating tube wells on biogas. – Dailytimes
