KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that his government was working hard to generate clean energy by installing wind and solar power projects.
The chief minister while speaking to US Consul General Mr Robert Silberstein, said that the country was energy starved and the government has the only option to generate electricity from Thar coal.
CM Sindh said the breakthrough which the provincial government has made a in coal-fire power generation in Thar was a milestone in the country.
He said these projects have not only created employment opportunities for the locals but have changed the dynamics of life style in Thar desert where women empowerment has become the major intervention.
CM Sindh said that the project development was a gigantic task and the more difficult task was the settlement of the affected people in better way by passing on the benefits of the projects established on their ancestral lands.
The visiting US diplomat said he had visited the area and was impressed. He told the chief minister the coal projects, wind projects and the human settlement made by the government were impressive.
He added that he was worried about the locust swarm in the deesert area. “It was quite horrible and must be destroyed at the earliest because some experts have told me if they were not killed this year they would cause a catastrophe next year.
The chief minister said that he has provided a grant of Rs10 million to the federal government plant protection department to conduct aerial spray in the desert area.
The consul general told the chief minister that he visited NED engineering college in Mithi. He appreciated the step of the provincial government but said it was a small institute.
The chief minister said he had already reserved a 300 acre land for the university and said it was dream to establish a full-fledged university.
The diplomat assured the chief minister that the American government would support the provincial government in establishing an state-of-art university in Thar. The chief minister thanked him for his support.
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