ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has given a go-ahead for the early execution of 10,000 megawatts solar energy project to reduce the import bill of costly diesel and furnace oil.
The prime minister, who chaired a meeting to provide major relief to the masses, said the electricity should be generated through solar instead of imported fuel.
The decision has been taken to save the foreign exchange as it would help the country save billions of dollars.
In the first phase, the solar energy would be supplied to the government buildings, tube wells operating on electricity and diesel and domestic consumers with low consumption.
The prime minister directed the relevant authorities to ensure the early installation of solar plants to provide relief to the people before the next summer season.
He asked the authorities concerned to immediately start the execution of the project.
He also called for holding a conference of all stakeholders by next week before the bidding process.
A major chunk of electricity is produced from imported fuel whose prices have gone up in recent months. Our National Solar Energy Initiative is aimed at subsituting costly energy with cheap solar power, which will provide massive relief to people & save precious foreign exchange.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) September 1, 2022
The PM said later in a tweet that a major chunk of electricity was produced from “imported fuel whose prices have gone up in recent months”.
“Our National Solar Energy Initiative is aimed at substituting costly energy with cheap solar power, which will provide massive relief to people and save precious foreign exchange,” he added.
Last month, the premier had said the government would soon launch 6,000MW to 7,000MW solar energy projects to cut dependence on imported fuel.
