CPEC enabled govt to save country from civil war-like situation: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Planning Development Ahsan Iqbal has said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) enabled the present government to save the country from a civil war-like situation due to crippling energy crisis till 2013.

“We should remember the times in 2013 when the country had been facing 18 to 20 hours of power load shedding and labourers were protesting on streets creating a civil war-like situation due to near shut down of the industries while now load shedding has been curtailed by four to six hours daily,” he said this here on Friday while addressing 9th International CSR Summit and Awards-2017 organized by National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH).

Federal minister said that owing to investment received through CPEC project the present government was going to add a record 11,000 Megawatts electricity to the national grid by 2018.

He said that owing to new energy projects launched by the present govt, industries in the country had been given uninterrupted power supply throughout the last year. He said that without energy projects being initiated under the CPEC, the power load shedding crisis in the country could have amplified to 24 hours.

He said that without CPEC being built in the country even the prosperous sections of the society could have become impoverished as CPEC-related projects had reinvigorated economy of the country.

He said that it was a major achievement of the government that by 2018 it was going to add 11,000 MWs electricity to national grid while by the year 2013, the country in its existence of previous 66 years was only able to add just 17,000 MWs electricity.

He said the country had been facing up to 4,500 incidents of terrorism in a year till 2013, which had now decreased to a mere 450.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, who was guest of honour on the occasion, said the country like every other year was facing a multitude of national level challenges and crises due to recurring natural calamities and man-made disasters.-Online