MANGLA
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has described Mangla upgradation project as a wonderful example of cooperation between Pakistan and the United States.
Shehbaz Sharif on Monday inaugurated the refurbishment project of Units 5 and 6 of Mangla Dam.
Shehbaz also credited USAID for providing $150 million and France for providing 90 million euros and additional commitment for the project.
He also said that Wapda contributed Rs20 billion that rose the total amount of the upgradation project to $483 million.
PM Shehbaz credited late president Ayub Khan for laying out the Mangla project that helped our agriculture and industry providing clean and cheap electricity.
The prime minister 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 27 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.
Shehbaz Sharif has said that construction and development does not happen through sit-ins and slogans.
He said that they will have to advance by moving above differences and personalities for political stability in the country. “The coalition government is striving to counter the challenges,” he added.
The prime minister said that the time had come to reconcile with angry friends. “We will give a new direction to the Pak-US relations.”
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.
Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Sajjad Ghani said the refurbishment of the units of Mangla dam was in line with the keen interest of the federal government to provide clean, green and cheap energy to the people of the country.
He said the WAPDA had not only initiated new hydropower projects, but also been rehabilitating and upgrading its existing hydel power stations including Mangla to maximize the ratio of environment-friendly and low-cost hydel electricity in the national grid.
Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, Special Assistant to PM Tariq Fatemi, Secretary Water and Power Division Hassan Nisar, and senior officials were present. The prime minister also visited the refurbished units of the dam, where he was given a detailed briefing about the project.
