Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Monday inaugurated the refurbishment project of Units 5 and 6 of Mangla Dam aimed at enhancing its electricity generation capacity.
Speaking on the occasion, the prime minister termed the project a wonderful example of cooperation between Pakistan and the United States.
The prime minister said that the total cost of the up-gradation project is $483 million, of which $150 million were provided by the US as a grant.
Shahbaz Sharif emphasized the need for further enhancing bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and the United States in the field of trade and investment.
Live 🔴 Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attending the inaugural ceremony of refurbishment project of Unit 5 and Unit 6 at the Mangla dam.https://t.co/mkXY9DeM9X
— Government of Pakistan (@GovtofPakistan) December 5, 2022
Alluding to the contributions made by Mangla Dam to the Country’s economy, the prime minister said that Pakistan cannot afford expensive energy on which annually Rs 27 billion are currently being spent. He underlined the need for exploiting the indigenous resources including hydel, solar, air and coal to produce cheap electricity.
The prime minister said that the present government has prepared a project to generate ten thousand megawatts of electricity through solar energy. He said that a power project 1,320 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 60,000 megawatts.
Moreover, he said that apart from extension of Mangla and Tarbela Dams, Diamer Basha, Dasu and some other projects have been launched. He said that 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.
In his remarks on the occasion, the US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome said that Mangla Dam is a great symbol of Pakistan-US cooperation.
Ambassador Donald Blome said that amongst other hydropower projects, the United States is also assisting Pakistan to rehabilitate Tarbela power stations.
The US ambassador said that the rehabilitation work at Mangla Dam will increase electricity output to meet electricity needs of additional two million people. He said that it will also ensure that Mangla Power Stations remain productive for the next several years.
