A total of 28,000 agricultural tube wells in Balochistan would be shifted to solar system within three months under an agreement reached between the federal and provincial governments, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday.

“The federal government will provide 70 per cent funds while 30 per cent will be contributed by the provincial government for Rs55 billion solarisation project,” he told reporters after the agreement signing ceremony in Quetta.

The incumbent government has been calling for finding alternative sources of energy to lessen the country’s dependence on fuel, which is the major component in the country’s import bill.

The prime minister met with the provincial cabinet in which the federal ministers and Balochistan Governor Jafar Khan Mandokhel and Chief Minister Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti were present.

Earlier, the prime minister saw an agreement signing ceremony between the federal and the provincial governments for shifting of electricity-run tube wells to the solar powered mechanisms.

The prime minister tasked the chief minister to complete the solarisation project within three months.

He opined that the completion of the project would ensure the prosperity of the farmers and bring a large area of cultivable land under farming and added that farmers would get uninterrupted power supply throughout the day with the functioning of the solar powered tube wells.

In his address to the provincial cabinet, he termed the agreement as “a deep structured change” firmly rooted in the government’s conceived reforms agenda. A huge sum of Rs500 billion would be saved from going down the drain, the premier said.

The prime minister said that the federal government would be absolved of paying Rs80 to Rs90 billion which was provided as subsidy to the province due to non-payment of bills. Despite that, he said the farmers’ community was getting two to six hours of power supply.

With the solarization process, he expressed the hope that the issue would be “resolved forever.”

The prime minister went on to add that the federal government has reserved 10 per cent of the additional quota for the students of the province in a batch of 1,000 graduate students being sent to China on government scholarships to seek the latest training in the agriculture sector.

While 10 per cent additional quota for the students of Balochistan was also allocated in the training programme to be given by Huawei to 3,00,000 students in the IT sector, he added.

PM Shehbaz said that a total of 1 million agricultural tube wells throughout the country would also be converted to solar power and would save a sum of $3.5 billion on import bills of fuel, thus saving precious and limited resources of the country.

The model for the upcoming project would be introduced soon which would be “a quantum jump,” he added.

The prime minister said that Punjab province has also allocated a part of its NFC share to the development of Balochistan and about Rs150 to Rs160 billion has been provided to the province so far.

PM Shehbaz spoke about the need to ensure effective security and action against terrorism within the provinces.

He referred to discussions during his recent visit to China, where Chinese engineers told him that they “don’t go to dangerous areas [in Pakistan] but Pakistan is our friend” — something he slammed as “embarrassing” before the cabinet.

“If you want prosperity in the provinces, then security is our number one requirement,” Shehbaz said.