ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail on Monday said his government was fully capable of resolving the energy crisis under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Replying to the statement of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MP and former federal minister Hammad Azhar, Ismail said the people would see a clear difference between the performance of his party and of the previous government’s.
“No doubt we are faced with severe economic challenges but the PML-N is determined to revive the country’s economy,” he added.
He said it was the government of PML-N that installed modern in-expensive power plants, generated electricity from cheap coal and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and overcome load shedding.
During the last tenure of the PML-N, he said the electricity lines were laid down to improve the power transmission and distribution system.
The project was aimed at reducing losses in the distribution and transmission of the power sector, which was unfortunately shut down by the government of PTI, he added.
He regretted that the ‘incompetent’ government of PTI had halted all energy projects that eventually caused losses to the power sector.
He expressed the confidence that the PML-N government would now again start working on the improvement of the electricity supply and distribution system.
Miftah said PTI leaders had always lied to the nation that several power plants were operational in the country, adding that If there were sufficient plants already existed then why there was a power shortage and the country plunged into darkness.
He said PTI should explain the installation of new 8000 megawatts power plants and energy projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during its tenure.
Ismael said the truth of the matter was that Pakistan was an energy deficient country and that was what had prompted the last PTI government to consider installing more plants in the country but failed to do so.
“The CPEC authority chairman Khalid Mansoor had admitted that on television,” he said, and added, “Now it is for us to decide who is right and who is wrong.”
The PML-N leader asked those opposing the import of fuel to tell how much gas, oil, furnace oil and LNG the country produced. “When we are short of a commodity, obviously we will have to import it,” he emphasized.
Ismael claimed that when the last time Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister, the country was self-sufficient in wheat and sugar. “But due to the ‘corruption’ of the PTI government, Pakistan is now importing the two commodities,” he alleged.
He also hit out at the PTI for objecting to the rent paid on power plants. “Nobody gives you anything in this world for free,” he commented.
