ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Saturday that he had decided to send the water and power minister to India to explore potential areas of cooperation between the two countries.
Speaking to members of the Pak-India Joint Business Council at the Prime Minister’s Office, he said: “We are facing acute electricity shortage and any assistance in the power sector will help us in addressing the problem.”
Expressing satisfaction over the visit of Indian businessmen under the auspices of the council, Mr Sharif said: “It is reassuring that both sides are sitting together and talking to each other.” He said his government was pursuing investor-friendly policies.
The prime minister said it had always been his endeavour to bring the two countries closer to each other so that they could benefit from each other’s experience.
He said his party had pursued a policy of friendship and cooperation with India during its previous stints in power and the same policy of amity would be followed this time to promote peace and prosperity in the region.
Indian members of the council informed the prime minister that India could be of great help in providing support in medical science, higher education and technical and vocational training.
The meeting discussed non-discriminatory market access and agreed that the industrialists of both countries should be provided a level-playing field.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday said that new energy policy which is to be announced soon would turn out to be the panacea for the country's energy problems.
"People and economy have suffered badly at the hands of crippling power crisis. It is high time that prudent and consistent policies were pursued to come out of this morass," the prime minister said while chairing a high level meeting at the Prime Minister's Office to give final touches to the new power policy. The meeting not only discussed the broad contours of the new energy policy but also analysed the minute details threadbare.
It also decided that the new power policy would be announced shortly by the prime minister. The new national energy policy envisages increasing electricity generation to 26,800MW; reducing average electricity rates by more than 30 percent; achieving zero load shedding; encourage huge public and private investment and import of electricity from India, Iran and Central Asian states in three years.
According to draft of the policy, circular debt would be ended immediately while payments for furnace oil would be made within 60 days, while cost of electricity generation and transmission losses would be reduced. Import of electricity from Iran would be continued and new agreements would be signed to import energy from Turkmenistan and India. An increase in price of gas for all sectors, excluding domestic consumers, is also part of the draft of new energy policy. The supply of gas to CNG sector would be stopped in phases and would be provided to the power sector. Moreover, priority would be given to the construction of hydro, coal and biogas power projects.
Those who attended the meeting included Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervez Rashid, Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Dr Musaddiq Malik, Shaukat Fayaz A Tarin and other stakeholders from private and public sectors.
The PML-N government had earlier this month said that it is fully aware of the negative impact of electricity load shedding on trade and industry and revealed that the Planning Commission is developing short-, medium- and long-term plans to overcome the energy crisis. Federal Minister for Planning and Developing Ahsan Iqbal, while talking to members of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), had said that overcoming the energy crises was the topmost priority of the government and it would use all options to minimise ill effects of energy shortage on business and economy.
He noted that an amount of Rs 225 billion has been allocated to energy sector in the budget and its positive impact would start emerging in the coming months. Iqbal said that the government would make business-friendly policies so that private sector could assume bigger role in the economic development of the country.
