ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif inaugurated on
Monday the refurbishment project of Units 5 and 6 of Mangla Dam aimed at
enhancing its electricity generation capacity.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister termed the project a wonderful
example of cooperation between Pakistan and the United States. He said the
total cost of this up-gradation project is 483 million dollars, of which 150
million dollars were provided by the US as a grant.
He emphasized the need for further enhancing bilateral cooperation between
Pakistan and the United States in the field of trade and investment.
Alluding to the contributions made by Mangla Dam to the country’s economy,
the Prime Minister said Pakistan cannot afford expensive energy on which
annually twenty seven billion rupees are currently being spent.
He underlined the need for exploiting the indigenous resources including
hydel, solar, air and coal to produce cheap electricity. He said the
present government has prepared a project to generate ten thousand megawatts
of electricity through solar energy. He said a power project 1320 megawatt
has also been initiated at Thar to use the indigenous coal for electricity
production.
The Prime Minister regretted that the country could not fully exploit the
hydel power potential of sixty thousand megawatts. He said apart from
extension of Mangla and Tarbela Dams, Diamer Basha, Dasu and some other
projects have been launched. He said had these hydel projects been earlier
completed, the country would not have faced much destruction due to recent
floods as well as its reliance on the imported fuel would have been
negligible.
The Prime Minister stressed for unity to serve the country and steer it out
of all challenges. In his remarks on the occasion, the US Ambassador to
Pakistan Donald Blome said Mangla Dam is a great symbol of Pakistan-US
cooperation. He said amongst other hydropower projects, his country is also
assisting Pakistan to rehabilitate Tarbela power stations.
The Ambassador said the rehabilitation work at Mangla Dam will increase
electricity output to meet electricity needs of additional two million
people. He said it will also ensure that Mangla Power Stations remain
productive for the next several years.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman WAPDA Sajjad Ghani said that the
government is showing keen interest to produce clean, green and cheap
energy. He said the WAPDA is pursuing a two pronged strategy under which
the existing hydropower projects are being upgraded while construction work
has been started on new projects as well.
