[Podborodok]

LAHORE - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that Pakistan would become a power-exporting country within a few years
“The Thar coal project holds the key to ensure energy security of the country for 300 years and the government is working on fast track basis to exploit one of the largest coal reserves that is a source of cheap power generation. Thermal power plants with a capacity of 1,675 MW are being installed which include Nandipur (425MW) and Guddu (750 MW). Chichoki Mallian (525 MW) will come into the national grid by year 2014 and on completion, the projects would not only bridge the gap between demand and supply but also make Pakistan a power-exporting country,” he said while addressing the passing-out ceremony of the 39th Common Training Programme at Civil Services Academy.
Gilani said a paradigm shift had been introduced in the political landscape of the country through consensus politics based on tolerance for diversity, as nations were built when diversity was accepted as a way of public life leading to peaceful co-existence.
The prime minister said, “I believe that to a great extent, we have been successful in transforming political divide into a culture of political harmony and accommodation. Our mission for achieving consensus on all issues of national interest will continue despite differences, which are usual in a democratic dispensation.” He said that despite global recession, two devastating floods and other challenges, the PPP-led government had made remarkable achievements on many fronts.
“The federation has been strengthened by restoration of the 1973 Constitution; the 18th, 19th and 20th Amendments have brought Pakistan back to a parliamentary democracy; the provinces have been empowered in the real sense through greater provincial autonomy and devolution of powers to them and today they enjoy unprecedented freedom in decision-making, administrative operations as well as financial matters,” he added.
He said that after months of painstaking negotiations, the 7th NFC Award was adopted that allocated a major chunk of economic resources to the provinces.
“Aaghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan is a sincere effort of the present government to address socio-economic deprivations of people of Balochistan and to meaningfully integrate them into the mainstream,” he said, adding that “under the initiative, we are addressing the grievances of our Baloch brothers and sisters through comprehensive reforms in administrative, constitutional, political and economic sectors”.
He said Gilgit-Baltistan was given self-governance and empowerment, which was a long-standing demand of the people of the region. Gilani said the democratic government was aware of aspirations of people of south Punjab and was committed to the cause. “We are working on ways and means to materialise the demand into reality in accordance with aspirations of people of the area,” he said.
“On the economic front, the PPP government has achieved many milestones and its economic policies will further maintain macro-economic stability,” he said, asserting that for the first time in the country’s history, foreign exchange