Coal-based power projects were a Govt fraud: PAT

Lahore, February 6, 2015: According to a report released by the media cell of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek the coal based power project and the signing of MoUs in this regard were all a big fraud the Government played with the people of the country.

The report said that for the last two years the Punjab federal government kept singing the tunes of coal based power projects which were a mere eyewash and a total fraud and were only to grab commissions from foreign companies and now the ruler has started screaming about power projects based on LNG and these too will prove to be a fraud.

The report released by the president of PAT Dr. Raheeq Ahmed Abbasi said that all the tall claims of ending power load shedding in a year or two years have proven wrong and instead of decreasing load shedding it has increased and has crippled half the industry of the country. The report said that the Present government has no power policy and neither does it have the vision and sight to look into the future needs of the province and base its policies accordingly. All these projects of cheap power supply to the people of the country are only way and measures to grab commissions and fill their own pockets with ill-gotten wealth.

Talking to newsmen after releasing the report Dr. Raheeq Abbasi said that our hearts cry when we see the different ways these rulers are applying to fleece the people of their wealth and keep introducing new schemes and spread new ideas in this regard. He said that the government blamed the parties which were giving a sit-in in Islamabad for the blockage of foreign investment but now things have cleared up and the government itself is ending powers projects on its own like the Gadani Power project and the coal-based power projects. He said so are the Chinese companies ending their investment projects in our country after seeing what these rulers are doing. Sensing that these rulers are only out to grab commissions the foreign investors are running away, he said and added that the level of corruption of these rulers is pushing the foreign investors far from us.

Dr Raheeq Abbasi said that LNG was not discovered overnight and we all remember the several visits to China of the Sharif Brothers’ and their family members. He questioned that why did the Sharifs’ not think of the LNG based projects and why did they waste billions of Pakistani rupees on those over many tours to China? He said before this they plundered over Rs 15 billion on the Nandipur Power Project which is a closed issue now. He said all over the world it is an established fact that Hydle power projects are the cheapest source of power generation but in those projects the scope of commissions are very limited and that is why the Sharif brothers do not go for hydel power projects.

According to report the sincerity of the government can be gauged from the fact that Rs 10 billion are required for the Neelum-Jhelum Power Project which the government cannot come up with but it can come up with Rs 100 billion for the Metro Bus Service only because it will grab billions of rupees in commission from this bus projects. He questioned the why do we not see any judicial activism on the massive corruption of the government? He said a factious opposition is sitting in the parliament and whenever it raises its voice the scandals of Hajj, NICL, EOBI and Rental Power come to the fore and that is when they start screaming that democracy is in danger and is at stake. He asked after all which is the scientific way left by which we can stop the massive loot and corruption of this government? He asked how can we bring to a logical end to the mega corruption scandals of the previous governments?

Dr Raheeq Abbasi said where ever we look all we see is stories of corruptions and scandals. Be it petrol shortage, payments to IPPs through circular debt, furnace oil and LPG shortage, power shortage, false MoUs and factious agreements with unknown foreign companies. Everywhere is written corruption and incompetent peoples and untrustworthy officers are sitting and protecting the interests of the rulers’, he said and told that all this has cost the national exchequer a sum of Rs 100 billion which has come out of the pocket of the poor people of the country. He said if these rulers are allowed further time in government they will drain the last drop of blood from the veins of the people and then only Allah Almighty would be able to save the country.