MIRPUR (AJK) - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday advised PTI to practise mature politics in the larger interest of the country and the nation.
Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of 102MW Gulpur hydropower project at Gulpur in Kotli district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the prime minister asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership to accept the results of recently held by-polls in Punjab, adding the government desires a constructive and positive politics in the best national interest.
He said the government kept the PTI members part of the parliament by requesting Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-F and MQM to withdraw their resolutions against them.
He, however, said the nation should also see who was carrying forward the development agenda and who was impeding this process. He said the nation should take notice of the negative politics of the party and hold them accountable for their deeds.
He regretted the government approved a historic farmers’ package worth Rs 350 billion, but the PTI opposed it. He remarked PTI feared the development agenda of PML-N and was taking it as a threat for the next general elections.
Turning to the power sector, the prime minister said the government plans to build a host of small and big hydropower projects to over the electricity crisis.
He pointed out foreign companies are showing great interest in investing in the country, especially in the power sector, urging them to become partners in the mega projects of Diamer Bhasha and Dasu dams which would add about 9,000MW of electricity to the national grid.
He said the government is interested in privatising 969MW Neelum-Jhelum project, which is nearing completion, after its commissioning.
Nawaz Sharif disclosed the government was also setting up three LNG power projects with the capacity of 3,600MW. Foundation stone of one of the power plants has been laid while Rs 200 billion would be provided from the public sector development programme for the other two LNG power projects, which would become functional by 2017.
The prime minister reiterated commitment to meet energy shortage by the end of 2017, adding the power outages have considerably been reduced from 12 to six hours and the will continue to decline in the years to come.
He said the government is focusing on producing electricity at cheaper rates. For this purpose, he said hydroelectric, LNG and coal projects are being established. He said providing cheap electricity to the industries is imperative to make their products competitive in the international markets. He asserted Thar coal mine is also being explored to meet the future energy requirements of the country. About China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the prime minister said work on this project has been in progress on fast track.
Addressing the ceremony, Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif said Gulpul Power Project would provide clean and affordable energy. He said the government has adopted a futuristic policy to enhance efficiency of public sector power plants besides accelerating pace of work on under-construction or delayed power projects to complete them in the shortest possible time.
He pointed out that there is potential of generating 500MW power on the River Poonch, which would be fully exploited.
AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed appreciated the goverment steps towards addressing the electricity shortage. He also lauded the prime minister for strongly raising the Kashmir issue at the United Nations General Assembly.
APP adds from Kotli: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday said the days of leg pulling in politics were over and those trying to prevent the government from taking the country forward must end their negative tactics
“We want to take Pakistan forward to a stage where it stands proudly amongst the comity of nations and urge all those trying to create obstacles to join our efforts for the country’s progress,” the prime minister said.
He said baseless allegations were leveled about rigging in the general elections. The PML-N candidate has won again after free, fair and transparent by-election. He said in Okara even the security deposit of the PTI candidate has been forfeited.
He said opponents of the government were critical of performance of the government as they cannot see the fast pace of national development.
He said the PML-N believes in taking decisions of national interest with consensus and added the people of Pakistan can clearly see and understand who is serving the masses positively and who is trying to undermine the pace of development and progress.
The prime minister appreciated that 33 percent work on the Gulpur project has already been completed and the rest would be completed in 48 months.
He said the project would be completed with Korean investment of around 310 million US dollars. He reiterated his resolve that before the end of his government’s tenure, 3,600MW of electricity would be added to the national grid and the curse of load shedding would be over for good by 2018.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif claimed the country’s economic rating has improved significantly since his government took over.
He said the people of Azad Kashmir must be given their due, adding Pakistan would do its utmost to help the people of Azad Kashmir and turn it into one of the most developed areas of the country.