BALLOKI (KASUR): Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday that completion of three re-gasified power projects at what he called “unprecedented savings of Rs110 billion” would brighten up every home in the country.

“If such determination, transparency and hard work were displayed in past, today’s Pakistan would have been quite different,” he said while addressing a ceremony here after performing the groundbreaking of the 1,223MW Balloki Power Plant.

The project would be completed in 2017. Its cost stands at $469,000 per MW with an efficiency of 61.63 per cent. Savings in its construction cost are Rs38.6 billion while annual savings achieved due to better efficiency would be Rs5.8 billion.

Also read: Resolving energy crisis by 2018 top priority, says Nawaz

The prime minister said the federal and Punjab governments were implementing these projects for which a huge sum of Rs300 billion had been allocated in the public sector development programme.

He mentioned the trickle down effects of development projects and said the wheel of industry would move on and the low cost of power would boost production and end unemployment.

The construction work on various coal-fired projects is also under way. The interest rate has been slashed to 5 to 6 per cent, contrary to staggering 18 per cent in the past.

Mr Sharif said people were now getting loans from banks while there was a major reduction in government’s borrowing from banks. The inflation rate had been brought down while the foreign currency reserves had swelled. These facts are being mentioned by international rating companies.

Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali, Punjab Governor Rafiq Rajwana and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also attended the ceremony.

The prime minister said farmers in the country were burdened by the rise in international input prices and decline in production and, therefore, a Rs341 billion relief package for farmers had been launched.

Under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a number of important development projects were under way across the country.

In hydel projects, he said, Dasu and Diamer Bhasha dams would be completed soon. The Bhasha Dam for which the government had already released Rs100 billion for land acquisition, would become a lifeline power project for the country.

About construction of new road networks, he said, Balloki would be linked with the motorway and the Lahore-Multan road would be constructed on new alignment running up to Karachi.

He highlighted the significance of road networks linking Kasur-Gojra to Sumandri and Khanewal and Sukkur, Hyderabad and Karachi.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2015