LAHORE : A historic agreement has been signedbetween China and Punjab in Beijing today for the generation of 120megawatt power from Taunsa Barrage. The project to be completed withthe cooperation of China in three years would cost Rs.26 billion.
Chairman Punjab Development Company Babar Nadeem and the Chairmanof the state corporation which produces 30 thousand megawattelectricity in China, Wang Shao Fang signed the agreement. Addressing the signing ceremony, Chief Minister Punjab MuhammadShahbaz Sharif expressed his gratitude to the Chinese government andpeople and said that generation of power from Taunsa Barrage wouldbe a historic event. He said that load-shedding besides creatingproblems for Pakistani people, had also affected industrial andbusiness activities. He said that generation of power from TaunsaBarrage would help mobilize economy as well as generate employmentopportunities.
He said that the low-cost power generation project had paved theway for foreign investment in energy and other sectors in Punjab andit is hoped that Pakistan would be able to overcome the seriousissue of load-shedding through such projects. He expressed theconfidence that China could play an important role in riddingPakistan of load-shedding.
Meanwhile, at the invitation of Chinese Communist Party, MuhammadShahbaz Sharif met its senior leadership at Great PeopleIs Hall.Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Rana Sanaullah, Khawaja Ahmed Hasaan, SaudMajid, Hafiz Mian Nauman, Zaeem Hussain Qadri, Rana Mubashar Iqbal,Kiran Imran, Shamsa Gohar and a number of important leaders ofChinese Communist Party were present on the occasion. Talking to the visiting delegation from Punjab, senior leader ofChinese Communist Party Jia Qing Lin said that Chinese CommunistParty was deeply interested in the reforms programme by MuslimLeague-N. He also stressed the need of better working relationshipand increased contacts between the Communist Party of China andMuslim League-N. The Chief Minister Punjab said that equitabledistribution of resources and welfare of the deprived segments ofthe society was the common agenda of both the parties. PPI
