China to help launch solar village electrification project in Sindh

KARACHI: The government of Sindh in collaboration with China has decided to launch a solar-village electrification programme in the far-flung areas of the province.

In this connection, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah held a meeting with Chinese Consul General in Karachi Mr Wang Yu here at the CM House and said that the Sindh government has an ADP scheme of Rs2 billion for village electrification. The allocation of the current financial year is Rs500 million.

The Chinese consul general said that his government has initially allocated $80,000 for providing solar panels for rural areas of Sindh. He assured technical support and enhance financial assistance, once the work starts.

The chief minister said that he has farmed a policy under which those villages would be provided solar panels which are away from the national grid. “Every house in these rural areas should be equipped with solar energy,” he said and added the areas of Kachho, Kohistan and other areas had no facility of electricity. The scheme would change their lifestyle, he said.

Mr. Shah said that the weather of most of the areas of Sindh was dry with scorching sun during the whole summer and even during the winter there was enough sunlight.

Those who attended the meeting include Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon, Principal Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch and ACS (Dev) Mohammad Waseem. The consul general of China was also assisted by his team.