Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced that, by April, all government buildings in the country will be powered entirely by solar energy, beginning with federal government buildings. He said that if we use solar power in all of our government buildings, we will save 300 to 500 megawatts per month and cut the import bill, which currently stands at around $27 billion per year.
Talking at a solarisation gathering in Islamabad, on Tuesday, the Head of the state likewise accused all past legislatures over the most recent 30 years including two terms of his sibling and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, for “unrestrained round obligations” in the power area that have heightened to Rs2.5 trillion.
He stated that, in light of the country’s current economic crisis, it was time to implement long-overdue reforms, and that bureaucrats needed to reenergize themselves in order to serve the nation and clear official files without fear of NAB. State head said:
The power sector’s circular debt has grown into a monster as a result of a lack of accountability and reforms, and every government in the past 30 years is to blame. The circular debt is now four times larger than our Rs700 billion development funds.
According to Sharif, all federal government ministries, departments, and authorities, as well as their provincial offshoots, would immediately switch to solar energy under the energy-saving plan within the next four months. Because the federal government would not incur any additional costs as a result of the solarization process, he hopes to serve as a motivation for provincial governments.
PML-N Government
He stated that transparent bidding by a third party would be used throughout the entire process. He promised full support from the federal government and urged chief ministers to follow the central government’s lead and implement solar systems in their provinces.
According to the prime minister, the conversion of federal government buildings would be the first step in the process of generating 10,000 MW of solar power in the nation.
He maintained that the country was experiencing unprecedented inflation and praised the resilience of its citizens, but he also stated that the government had no choice but to approach the IMF.
“The PTI government had retreated from the IMF program and carried the country to the edge of financial annihilation and to that end the IMF has no faith in us,”
The state leader expressed that during the Coronavirus pandemic, gas costs collided with a record low of $2 per unit, yet the then government had “serious criminal carelessness” by not getting its import, and because of this the entire country was enduring at this point.
According to him, a 15-year agreement with Qatar for the purchase of LNG at 13.2 percent of Brent crude oil was made during the time that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was in office. However, the subsequent government chose to politicize the agreement.
He stated that gas was currently unavailable while fuel was being sold at an exorbitant price on the global market, and that they would need to swiftly switch to solar and renewable energy.
Conclusion
The PM expressed that during the past PML-N government, endeavors were made to create modest hydroelectricity, and land worth Rs100 billion was obtained to fabricate the Bhasha dam, however those were long haul measures to produce reasonable power in the country. He stated that the PML-N government completed power projects in 2015 as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to alleviate crippling power outages.
He said that countries like Pakistan faced a significant obstacle in the form of the costly $27 billion fuel import bill, also said that the ongoing conflict had also raised gas prices and made it harder to get gas because the supply to Europe was cut off.
The prime minister stated that during the Covid pandemic, when gas prices plummeted to their lowest point and were sold for $2 per unit, the government had committed criminal negligence by failing to secure its import, causing the entire nation to suffer.
