Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday directed the federal and provincial departments to ensure liaison for taking effective steps with regard to impending floods in Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The Prime Minister was given a briefing on climate change in Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir during a meeting of Climate Change Committee, a PM Media Office press release said.
Malik Amin Aslam, PM’s adviser on climate change, briefed the prime minister about the electric vehicle policy. He pointed out that smoke emitting vehicles are the major cause of environmental pollution in Punjab. It was also informed that besides reduction in environmental pollution, the electric vehicles will also lessen oil imports and increase business opportunities in the country.
The prime minister directed the adviser to present the final draft of electric vehicle policy in the federal cabinet for its approval within two weeks.
The prime minister was also briefed on strategy to control smog in the province and was informed that Punjab Green Development Programme has started its working besides 10 smog monitoring centers established in the province. It was informed that smog working groups have been established to create awareness among people regarding preemptive measure. The meeting was informed that brick kiln owners were being guided to adopt modern methods. The prime minister was informed that work on signing MoU with a bio-energy company is under process regarding destruction of crop residues. He was also briefed on 10 billion trees project of the government.
He was informed that various proposals are under consideration to gather financial resources of the project which include Green Sukuk, Forest Bonds and the establishment of Green Fund, a Chinese cooperation project. The prime minister was also informed that all legalities have been completed to check plastic bags use in the federal capital. In this regard, he was informed that complete ban on use of plastic bags will be imposed on August 14 this year.
At a separate meeting regarding the exploration and utilization of Thar Coal, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the federal government will extend all-out assistance to ensure the success of the power project. He said the project will remarkably help overcome energy needs of the country.
During the briefing, the prime minister was apprised that Thar Coal Field was the seventh largest coal reserve in the world with a capacity to produce 100,000 MW of power for next 200 years. It was told that Thar Coal reserves of 175 billion tones had the power production capacity equivalent to 50 billion tons of oil and 2,000 trillion cusec feet of gas.
The prime minister was told that work on the first phase of Second Thar Coal Block has been completed and work on second phase is in progress. Utilizing the Thar coal, power units are being installed in different phases to cope with the country’s power needs. The meeting was told that block-2 of Thar Coal will start producing 5,000MW power by 2025 for the next 50 years.
The prime minister was also briefed on a mining project by Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company. He was apprised about the social welfare projects by Thar Foundation in the fields of education, health, vocational training and tree plantation.
The prime minister said the Thar Coal is a precious natural asset that has been ignored in the past. On the request from different companies for federal government’s assistance regarding transportation, water supply and power transmission lines, the prime minister assured all-out cooperation from the federal government.
