KARACHI: Sindh Energy Minister, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on Wednesday, directed to expedite all the ongoing projects of the ministry so that their benefits could be transferred to the people at the earliest.
The minister, while presiding over the orientation meeting of the Sindh Energy Department, instructed officers concerned to chalk out on war footing a plan for the provision of 300 units of electricity free of cost to people as per the manifesto of PPP’s incumbent provincial government.
The provincial minister also directed that special attention should be paid to quality and merit in all the projects.
Sindh Secretary Energy Department, Mussadiq Ahmad Khan, informed the meeting that 15.3 million tons of coal was being extracted annually from Thar coal blocks I and II while 3,300 megawatts of electricity was being provided to the national grid from Thar coal power projects.
The meeting was informed that a 105 km railway track will be laid from Islamkot to Chore to facilitate the utilization of Thar coal
for further industrial purposes.
The meeting was informed that 1,845 megawatts of electricity are being generated from the wind power project while 36 power plants of 150 megawatts have been completed.
With the support of the World Bank, 3 solar power projects of 400 megawatts are being fast-tracked and electricity generated by them will be added to the grid system.
The meeting was informed that the process of transferring government buildings to a solar system was underway and 21 megawatts of electricity was being provided to 33 hospitals and 11 megawatts to 24 government buildings through solar power generation.
The meeting was told that modern laboratories will be set up at NED and Mehran Universities to test the quality of solar systems.