ISLAMABAD, July 21 (INP):  President Asif Ali Zardari has asked the business and industrialist community to join hands with the government in a partnership for ridding the country of the problem of power shortage and outages, once and for all.

The persistent and long hours of load shedding in the hot summer has tested the patience of the people to its limits, the President said, adding, “Let us together, the government and the private entrepreneur, take the bull by the horns”. The government has already
embarked upon rental power projects to meet urgent energy needs but we also need to think of some out of box solutions for a long term solution, he said.

The President said this during a brain storming meeting Tuesday on the energy issues in the country that was participated by Ministers and senior officials and half a dozen leading entrepreneur of the country.

The meeting was attended by Mr. Makhdoom Muhammad Amin Faheem, Minister for Commerce, Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, Minister for Industries & Production, Senator Waqar Ahmed Khan, Minister for Investment, Rana Muhammad Farooq Saeed Khan, Mininster for Textile, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Minister for Water & Power, Mr. M. Salman Faruqui, Secretary General, Dr. Asim Hussain, Advisor to PM on Petroleum and NR
and federal secretaries. The private entrepreneur who attended the meeting included Mr. Tariq Saigol, Mian Mohammad Mansha, Mr. Razaq Dawood, Mr. Bashir Ali Mohammad, Mr. Arif Nazami and Mr. Tariq Mahmood, Chairman, APTMA.

Briefing the media about the meeting, the Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said that the President suggested some innovative solutions to the problem and invited the private sector to consider the suggestions.

The President suggested that a company be formed collectively by energy investors which should offer shares to the general public through the stock exchange to raise capital.

He said that the government had already prepared feasibilities for dozens of small hydel projects which can be shared with the private energy producers to jump start the private power projects.

Farhatullah Babar quoted the President as saying that raising capital through stock exchanges by the conglomerate of private producers and the assistance rendered by the government by providing feasibility studies and needed facilities, can prove to be a very successful model.

The President invited the participants to give the suggestion a serious thought and to take up with the government if they found it workable and worthwhile. 

The President said that the energy crisis was the result of criminal neglect during the past decade on the one hand and the chasing and hounding of IDPs before that on the other. However, the challenge is now before us and we have to find a solution rather than continue the blame game, he said.

A number of private entrepreneurs speaking on the occasions offered suggestions on issue ranging from circular debt to solar energy to hydel generation.  “We have the political will to try out of box solutions”, the President said and advised the private entrepreneurs to also meet the Prime Minister and discuss these suggestions.

Farhatullah Babar said that after the private investors meeting with the Prime Minister this week another meeting will be held in the residency with both the PM and President presiding to consider some out of box solutions in addition to the on going projects aimed at adding another 3000 MW to the national grid by the end of the year. The meeting that will also be participated by private investors and relevant officials is likely to be held end of the week or early next week, he said.

INP/AH