Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on Wednesday said that the Solar Summit would give a new boost to the State’s economy as the State has emerged as the most preferred destination for investment in non-conventional energy sector.
Sukhbir, interacting with media at Kolianwali village after laying foundation stones of various development projects and three irrigation projects in lambi constituency, said that the Punjab has received more than Rs4,000 crore investment for 500 MW (megawatt) solar projects which mainly includes investment by major foreign players from Singapore, USA and France.
He said: “Tomorrow’s (Thursday) Solar Summit would further showcase the possibilities in renewable energy sector in Punjab as the state is fully suitable for these projects due to availability of sun shine for 300 days in a year.”
Sukhbir also called the farmers to come forward to be a partner under the incentive-oriented Net Metering Policy as it was especially designed for keeping in view the farmers’ interests.
He said that keen interest of State farmers in solar power could be gauged from the fact that PEDA has recently got expressions of interest for 1200 MW against the initial estimates of 500 MW. The State farmers were now getting remunerative lease rates besides high rates even for non-fertile lands, he said.
Deputy Chief Minister said that initiatives of Punjab in this sector has been noticed at national level as the Prime Minister has awarded Punjab as best performing state on RE front during REINVEST-2015 held in New Delhi and few days ago, Renewable Energy Promotion Association (REPA) has awarded Punjab as the Best Bio-energy State of India with highest installed capacity.
CONG, AAP ARE SPENT FORCES
Terming Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as “spent forces” in Punjab, Sukhbir said that Capt Amarinder Singh and Partap Singh Bajwa were busy in power struggle to capture the presidency of PPCC and they never bothered to raise their voice for issues pertaining to Punjab. On the other hand the real “anti-poor face” of AAP was exposed from the fact that Arvind Kejriwal has set aside more than Rs500 crore for publicity on state exchequer against the meagre Rs10 crore publicity budget of Punjab Government.
VAT ON PETROl TO BE UNIFORM IN NORTHERN STATES
On the issue of uniform VAT on diesel in northern states, Sukhbir said that it was aimed to eliminate smuggling of oil from one state to another and this decision was taken unanimously by northern States. He also disclosed that VAT on petrol would brought to the same level in coming days as the dialogue in this regard is going on.