Out-of-box solutions to inflated power bills soon: PM

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar said his government was exploring realistic options to come up with out-of-box solutions to provide relief to electricity consumers.

During an interaction with foreign media representatives in Islamabad today, he said the government would make informed decisions to satisfy the masses on the issue of electricity bills without deviating from the country’s commitments with the international financial institutions.

Mentioning the issues of circular debt, power theft and taxes, the prime minister said the government would introduce short-term solutions to the issue without undermining the agitating people.

He assured that the caretaker government is mandated to facilitate holding the general elections as early as possible while observing the constitutional obligations.

Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said the Constitution called for carrying out the delimitation of constituencies following the population census.

He said without redesigning the government structure, the interim setup is mainly focused on rearranging the fiscal and monetary policies to build an edifice for economic revival. 

Calling the Special Investment Facilitation Council a strategy for economic revival, he said it focused on agriculture, mines and minerals, defence production and information technology.

However, he also spelled out the economic reform agenda of his government, saying that the imminent steps included the privatization of two or more power distribution companies. He said the government is pursuing a policy of doing the doable and providing a strategic direction to economic planning.

To a question, he said all the registered political parties would be provided a level playing field to contest the general elections without any discrimination.

However, he said in certain instances, political behaviour turned into vandalism and the country’s law was already in vogue to deal with such conduct.

Talking about the terror attacks by the TTP, the prime minister drew attention to the leftover military equipment by the United States and allied forces back in Afghanistan, which, he viewed, were becoming a threat to peace thus necessitating a coordinated approach to deal with the challenge.

He said the foreign forces left Afghanistan after losing interest but we are here to defend our home, children, mosques and places of worship. He said the Pak-Afghan ties are deeply rooted in cultural and faith-based linkages as well as social integration. Pakistan showed magnanimity to the Afghan refugees and the government is coming up with a policy to address the challenge of illegal immigrants, he added.

The Prime Minister said regardless of any political association, the people of Balochistan welcomed every project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which had entered the second phase.

He reiterated the government’s resolve to go to any extent to protect the Chinese workers taking part in the CPEC projects.

Referring to the massive reserves worth 6 trillion dollars of copper and gold in Balochistan, the prime minister said the Reko Diq project is about to start soon.

He called for all the stakeholders to formulate a model to explore the mineral-rich area to make the world see Pakistan through a different prism. The prime minister expressed the hope that foreign investment projects worth 25 billion dollars each from Saudi Arabia and the Middle East would realize in a time span of two to five years.

About the May 9 riots, he said the attack on the military installations was an attempt to create societal disorder, and that existential threat needed a lawful response and he supported the laws to curb such behaviour.