Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif announced on Monday that under an agreement between the Federal and Balochistan governments, as many as 28,000 agricultural tube wells in the province would be shifted to solar system within three months. While talking to media persons after the agreement signing ceremony, the prime minister said that the federal government would provide 70 percent funds while Balochistan government will contribute 30 percent in the solarization project worth Rs55 billion. Premier Shehbaz Sharif also held meeting with members of the provincial cabinet in which the federal ministers and Governor Balochistan Jafar Khan Mandokhel and Chief Minister Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti were also present. Earlier, the PM witnessed an agreement signing ceremony between the federal and the provincial governments for shifting of electricity run tube wells to solar powered mechanism. He tasked the chief minister to complete the solarization project within in three months.

The prime minister opined that the completion of project would ensure prosperity of the farmers and bring a large area of cultivable land under farming, adding that with functioning of the solar powered tube wells, the farmers would get uninterrupted power supply throughout the day. Addressing to the provincial cabinet, he termed the agreement as ‘a deep structured change’ firmly rooted in the government’s conceived reforms agenda and said that a huge sum of Rs500 billion would be saved from going down the drain. The federal government would be absolve of paying Rs80-90 billion burden which was provided as subsidy to the province due to non-payment of bills and still the farmers community was getting 2 to 6 hours power supply, he added. The prime minister expressed the hope that with the solarization process, the issue would be resolved forever. He said that throughout the world, the utilization of solar capacity was tapped for generation of environment friendly power which was considered as the inexpensive source of power.

PM Shehbaz Sharif said that the government was taking steps on priority basis for the provision of solar power and assured that the federal government would work closely with the provincial government for the uplift of the province. He said that they had reserved 10 percent of additional quota for the students of province in a batch of 1,000 graduate students being sent to China on government scholarships to seek the latest training in the agriculture sector. While 10 percent additional quota for the students of Balochistan was also allocated in the training programme to be imparted by Huawei to 3,00,000 students in IT sector, he added. The prime minister further informed that the federal government had already set aside funds in the fiscal budget for Danish schools in the province, adding that they were keen to broaden Danish schools to the divisional level so that students in the entire province could be benefitted from the education facility.

He said that when the young people of Balochistan were equipped with the latest education, the country and province would move on path of progress. The prime minister also appreciated ideas and efforts of the chief minister and said the today’s signing of agreement was part of the reforms agenda and collective efforts made by the federal and provincial governments for the progress and prosperity of the country. The PM also apprised that a total of 1 million agricultural tube wells throughout the country would also be converted on solar power and would save a sum of $3.5 billion on import bills of fuel, thus saving precious and limited resources of the country. The model for the upcoming project would be introduced soon which would be ‘a quantum jump’, he added. He regretted that the injustices were done with the debt ridden country in the last many decades and if they had not taken drastic steps for the economic turnaround, the coming generations would not forgive them.

The prime minister said that it was his first visit to the province after the formation of new government. He said Balochistan was a very important province of the country and if it was lagging behind in terms of development, there were various reasons, adding Pakistan’s progress was linked with the development of province. PM Shehbaz Sharif said that Punjab province had also allocated a part of its NFC share to the development of Balochistan, adding about Rs150-160 billion had been provided to province so far. He said that nothing was impossible to achieve in this world though there might be difficulties but the developed nations emerged successful after overcoming different challenges with collective efforts. He said Gwadar would become the biggest income resource for the province and China was ready to transform it into a global hub of trade. The prime minister also expressed the resolve to root out the scourge of terrorism from the province.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan