Khurram Dastgir lays foundation of 500/132kV grid station in Faisalabad

Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division) Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan laid the foundation stone of 500/132-kV grid station at Allama Iqbal Industrial City (AIIC), Sahianwala, here on Monday.

He said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its leadership believed in serving mass. It always preferred to initiate development projects in the country so that life standard of masses could be improved by providing them with basic amenities at their doorsteps. He said that the PML-N government had launched a number of mega projects including transmission lines, new grid stations, industrial cities and CPEC in addition to eliminating the menace of terrorism and load-shedding during its tenure 2013-18.

Later, the incompetent rulers were imposed on the country, who did not launch even a single public welfare or development scheme. He said that the incompetent rulers had committed criminal negligence which increased price of development projects manifold and now the nation was facing its consequences.

He said that the PML-N government established new grid stations near Painsara and Lalian few months ago, which saved Rs1.5 billion for FESCO. If these schemes were not completed, the people had to pay this amount in their electricity bills.

Similarly, the PML-N government had laid Lahore-Matiari Transmission Line and now after four years, it also launched the project of Matiari-Thar transmission line. This transmission line had 220-kilometre length and National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) completed it within record time.

He said that the incompetent rulers fooled the nation during their tenure by unveiling fake plaques. When their government was removed through constitutional means, they started protests to destabilise the country.

They burnt and damaged the national assets like Radio Pakistan building Peshawar, Jinnah House Lahore, Toll Plaza of Swat Motorway, Metro Station Rawalpindi, Model of MM Alam's plane in Mianwali and Edhi Ambulance in addition to attacking military installations and vandalising monuments of army martyrs.

The people must realise nefarious designs of the arsonists and reject them as no patriotic Pakistani could dare burn or damage national assets, he added.

He said the PML-N was the people-friendly party and believed in service to masses. Therefore, people must support it to resume development pace as it was witnessed before the regime of incompetent elements.

He directed the NTDC to complete all development projects with a fast speed so that the people could be provided much-needed relief within shortest time.

He said that foundation of 500/132-kV AIIC grid station was laid down and this project would be completed by June 2025 with an estimated cost of Rs 20 billion. The project would help boost industrial activities in this region which would reciprocally create a number of job opportunities for the masses, he added.

Earlier, Managing Director NTDC Engineer Dr Rana Abdul Jabbar Khan addressed the function and said that 500/132-kV AIIC grid station was the third major project for NTDC this year. Earlier, this company had completed two projects in a record time. Among them included 220-km long Thar-Matiari Transmission Line and 30-km Polan-Jiwani (Gwadar) transmission line.

The NTDC would also strive hard to complete 500/132-kV AIIC grid station within record time, he added.

Earlier, the minister laid foundation stone of the grid station and planted a sapling in grid station premises.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) Engineer Bashir Ahmed, CEO Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDM) Tanvir Jabbar and others were also present on the occasion.