Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar on Saturday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led government has introduced basic reforms in various sectors including in energy during last three years aimed at ensuring sustainable development.<\/p>\n
Addressing a press conference here, he said that that these reforms would continue in next five years.<\/p>\n
He said our economy was paralyzed after 1960 and gross domestic product (GDP) also could not grow like the other countries. Sometime, our GDP witnessed sudden increase and in next increase faced recession, he added.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fixed the market exchange rate
\non the direction of Finance Minister resulting increase in debts and
\npressure on foreign currency reserves, he said.<\/p>\n
He said now rates were fixed as per market based exchange. The custom
\npolicy was also separated from Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Tax,
\nhe added. Now, the commerce ministry fixed it which also help
\nimprovement in raw materials, he said. He said it would also help
\npromote industries in the country.<\/p>\n
The minister said that the country\u2019s exports would be brought at $ 30
\nbillion this year while Rs 6000 billion tax collection would be
\ncollected during the said period which would be a record.<\/p>\n
He said the entire world has praised Pakistan for compliance of 26
\npoints out of 27 given by Financial Action Task Force (FATF).<\/p>\n
He said new power plants were set up in past without assessing the old
\npower plants established by Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The
\ngovernment renegotiated with IPPs which would bring improvement in the
\npower sector, he added.<\/p>\n
He said the government for the first time approved Indicative Generation
\nCapacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) model in the country under which in
\nfuture power projects would be set up purely in opening competitive
\nbidding as per the requirement.<\/p>\n
The minister said in past, focus was given only to generation of
\nelectricity while no attention was paid to power distribution in the
\ncountry. In past, our system could not transmit around 20,000 MW while
\n24,700 MW electricity was transmitted during the last year, he said.<\/p>\n
Hammad said system could easily transmit 30,000 MW by 2023. The
\ngovernment has completed 4000 MW HVDC transmission line project which
\nwas only present in the papers, he added.<\/p>\n
He said 2nd phase of Neelum Jhelum transmission line project has also
\nbeen completed yesterday which would supply electricity from Neelum
\nJhelum and Karot Hydrpower Projects to Sialkot and Gujrnawala districts.<\/p>\n
The minister said yesterday, the National Assembly passed a legislation
\nregarding SBP autonomy which was highly politicized by the opposition.
\nIn all developed countries, their State Banks were independent, he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
He said the federal government would own the entire assets of SBP while
\nthe appointment and removal of SBP governor, deputy governor and board
\nof directors was also under the domain of the Central government. The
\nlegislation would free the SBP from politicized decisions, he added.<\/p>\n
He said the government successfully dismantled cartelization in
\nagriculture and enhance wheat support price to facilitate the farmers.
\nThe farmers were getting rates of Rs 250-300 per maund for their sugar
\ncane, he added.<\/p>\n
Regarding fuel cost adjustment, the minister said the past government
\ninstalled power projects based on imported fuel including LNG and Coal
\nwhich resulted in variation of fuel cost prices. \u201cHad the past
\ngovernment gives priority to build dams today we have not suffer,\u201d he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Hammad said that the incumbent government has declared this decade as
\n\u201cdecades of dams\u201d and 10 mega dams were being set up in the country.
\nUnder, the plan, 70-80 per cent electricity would be generated through
\nlocal resources including hydel, coal, and Renewable by 2030, he added.<\/p>\n
He said 5 GDP growth would be achieved this year while the foreign
\nremittances would be around $ 30 billion which would be a record.<\/p>\n
Replying to a question, he said Pervaiz Khattak has raised the issue
\nbefore the Prime Minister that there was ban in new gas connection in
\nhis constituency. He said PTI was a democracy party and every member has
\nright to speak in the party\u2019s meeting. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar on Saturday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led government has introduced basic reforms in various sectors including in energy during last three years aimed at ensuring sustainable development. Addressing a press conference here, he said that that these reforms would continue in next five years. He said our economy was paralyzed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1707,1169,190],"class_list":{"0":"post-238944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-hammad-azhar","9":"tag-pti-government","10":"tag-reforms"},"yoast_head":"\n