LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Saturday said a Canadian company has expressed its interest in setting up modern solar plants in Punjab.

Presiding over a meeting at his office, Mr Buzdar said Punjab had huge potential to benefit from solar energy and added that the latest technology would be used for the purpose.

He urged the Canadian company to prepare an off-grid solution for Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Cholistan, Thal and a feasibility report after survey of these areas.

Previous govt’s project earns Rs200m profit

The chief minister said electricity would be provided through modern solar power plants to the areas where there was no transmission line and added that the Punjab government would provide all the required facilities in this regard.

The Canadian company representative and chief executive of Grace Solar Pakistan Nouman Khan briefed the chief minister on the modern technology of solar energy and performance of new panels.

Punjab energy minister Dr Akhtar Malik, chief secretary, additional chief secretary (home), principal secretary to CM, energy secretary, chief of the Special Monitoring Unit, chief executive officer of Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power Company, Punjab Power Development Board managing director and president of Canadian company Project International Faiz Ahmed Faizi attended the meeting.

CHEQUE: Punjab energy minister Dr Akhtar Malik called on Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and presented him a cheque of Rs200 million profit earned from the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power project in Bahawalpur.

The solar project was established by previous Shahbaz Sharif government in Punjab.

Following a briefing on solar projects by Dr Malik, the chief minister said the present government believed in performance and earned profit through the best management and professional approach.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2019