No Kalabagh dam without consensus: Gilani

THATTA: Kalabagh dam will not be built without all provinces agreeing to it, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said after inaugurating the country’s first wind power project near Jhimpir on Sunday.

The project has been installed by a Turkish company, Zorlu Energy, in a hilly area near Thatta.

He said that the project’s launching was the first major step to exploit the potential of the Gharo-Ketibundar wind corridor which has the potential to generate more than 50,000 megawatts of electricity.

The prime minister called for increasing production of electricity through alternate resources to overcome energy shortage.

He said that in the wake of the global energy, economic and environmental crises, it was becoming increasingly evident that renewable sources, particularly wind energy, offered the most promising solution.

He said that 24 other wind farm projects, with a cumulative capacity of 1,200MW, were being implemented, adding that the Zorlu group would help expand the project to 250MW capacity.

He said that Dharawat dam would be built in the Kohistan Hills near Jhimpir.

Meanwhile, residents of the Jhimpir town observed a strike to protest against allotment of land for wind energy projects.

APP adds: PM Gilani ordered an immediate stop to the auction of land, asking the chief minister, MNAs and the adviser to the PM on finance to devise a strategy for providing relief to the poor people.

He said that land should be distributed among landless growers.

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