Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh on Tuesday said that ending the country’s energy crisis would be the first priority of the Pakistan Peoples Party after coming to power.
Imran
KARACHI: Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh on Tuesday said that ending the country’s energy crisis would be the first priority of the Pakistan Peoples Party after coming to power.
“Economic development is not possible until the end of the energy crisis,” he said holding the former government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf responsible for the economic and energy crisis in the country.
While addressing the “Solar Clean Energy Conference” at a local hotel, he said that the PPP-led Sindh Government was playing its full role to end the energy crisis.
He said that the previous PTI-led federal government neglected the energy projects of Sindh. “ We started energy projects with public private partnership and foreign financial institutions,” he said added that the provincial government had solarized 233 basic health units and 37 major hospitals in the province.
The energy minister said as many as 40 large government buildings including the Sindh Assembly and Central Prison Karachi were being solarized.
Imtiaz Sheikh said that Sindh was the first province where hybrid policy had been made. “Sindh government has signed MoUs on business to business for electricity generation,” he added.
The energy minister said that the Sindh was also the first province in which 200,000 were being solarized.
He said that Sindh had worked the most on alternative energy and renewable energy in the country. “Sindh is not only a province rich in minerals, but there are vast opportunities for generating electricity from which a rich income can be obtained,” he added.
Imtiaz Shaikh said that that a business to business agreement for 400 MW of solar power had been signed with Engro. “
A 200 MW agreement has also been signed with another company,” he added.
The energy minister said that the provincial government was also working on solar projects with the K Electric. “Expensive electricity and load-shedding can only be controlled through alternative energy projects,” he added.
Inviting domestic and foreign investors, the energy minister said that there were vast opportunities in the energy sector in the province. “Interested parties will be fully supported by the provincial government,” he assured.
Imtiaz Shaikh said that it was a pity that investors were preferring to import solar system articles instead of setting up indigenous solar companies. “My advice to investors is to prefer local solar companies,” he said adding that the solution to the country’s energy crisis was solar energy.
Imtiaz Sheikh said that Allah Almighty had blessed us with numerous blessings. “We can get a lot of benefit from it,” he added.
The energy minister said that the Sindh government had done a lot of work on clean and green energy as compared to other provincial governments.
He said that Sindh was the hub of energy as most of the natural resources, including gas, oil, and wind corridor were in the province. “If we overcome the energy crisis, all our problems will be solved automatically,” he added.
Later, the energy minister inaugurated the solar exhibition and inspected the stalls set up by various companies.
Energy Secretary Abubakar Madani was also present on this occasion.
