KARACHI: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Monday said the government was committed to resolving the issue of energy shortage and has successfully reduced the gap between demand and supply of both electricity and natural gas.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the second Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at the Port Qasim, built by the private sector, the Prime Minister said work was going on several power projects to overcome the challenge in shortest possible time.
Pakistan was importing 600 million cubic feet of LNG per day (mmcfd) through its first LNG terminal at Port Qasim. The new second terminal would handle another 600 mmcfd, taking the total import volume to 1.2 billion cubic feet per day.
The Prime Minister said when the PML-N government came into power in 2013 it was confronted with serious issues of power shortages, lawlessness and an economy in shambles. However owing to the vision of its leadership and dedicated team the country’s economy has turned around and today it GDP was vibrant at 5.3 percent. He hoped to sustain it and take it up to 6 per cent next year. He said the government also confronted the challenge of terrorism head-on while the challenge of power shortages has been addressed with the import of the LNG.
He said in 2013, the government was informed that it would take a minimum of seven years before any of its ambitious projects could take shape. However said it was the proud privilege of his government that it has completed all the projects on which it initiated the work.
He said the government was working on ways to produce electricity through different options, adding said three more power stations that run on LNG would soon be operational add more electricity to be added the national grid. The Prime Minister said work on 1360 MW coal power project was also nearing completion.
The Prime Minister congratulated Pakistan Gas Port Limited (PGPL) Chairman Iqbal Z Ahmed on achieving this milestone and said he still has two more to cross. He termed the LNG terminal a success story. He said all new terminals were in private sector and said the role of government was as a facilitator to the consumers and the suppliers. He said that the government’s function is not to do business but to provide a regulatory framework.
He said the LNG was the cheapest fuel available in the country and would adequately meet the requirements of the commercial, industrial, domestic and the CNG sectors. He said there was a huge potential for investment in the LNG sector as the country has a huge market for natural gas.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah met on Monday and discussed progress of development projects in the province.
The meeting, which was also attended by Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair, also discussed political matters.
Published in Daily Times, November 21st 2017.
