Pakistan: Solar project to electrify 10,000 houses

Pakistan on Sunday launched a solar power project that aims to electrify 10,000 houses across the country.

Addressing a gathering at the launch of Hilton Pharma's CSR initiative solar project, President Arif Alvi said that Pakistan, which had emerged as the fifth largest market for solar energy, needed to make optimum use of the safest source available in abundance in the form of sunlight, Dawn News reported.

"Pakistan is [the] sixth most populous country of the world, but unfortunately 25 per cent of our population is still deprived of basic facility of electricity," he said.

"Since we have an increasingly consumerist society, the solar panel manufacturing should start in Pakistan to provide electricity to the remotest areas. Solar energy will also reduce the imminent threat of global warming," the president added.

The solar power project 'Roshni Se Zindagi', which has already launched the initiative in two rural areas of Sindh -- Baba Bhit Island and Gharo -- will be providing solar-generated electricity to around 10,000 families throughout Pakistan during the next three years.