Construction of 100 bio-gas plants is in final stages in various villages of Gujranwala, District Coordination Officer Muhammad Amin Chaudhry said on Friday. He was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a bio-gas production plant in Benka Cheema village in Gakhar. The DCO said work on 45 plants had been completed. He said gas supply to respective villages had also begun form these plants. Work on another 400 plants would soon be started, he added.
DCO Chaudhry urged the livestock farmers and affluent people to come forward and cooperate with the administration in establishing more biogas plants. He said many more villages could benefit from the facility if plants could be established at all the 2,665 livestock farms in Gujranwala. Citizens Community Board (CCB) chairman Mian Attaur Rahman, secretary Nasir Ghumman, coordinator Muhammad Israel and plant owners Rana Riasat, Rana Muhammad Yaqoob, Rana, Maqbool and Rana Abdul Ghani were present at the ceremony.
CCB chairman Rahman said plants were being set up on a public-private partnership model. He said 80 per cent of the cost of a plant was borne by the government and 20 per cent by the land owner. He estimated the cost of a plant at Rs160,000. About the 100 under construction plants, he said the government had released Rs8.4 million of its share (Rs15 million) to the contractors. The remaining Rs6.6 million would be released once construction was complete, he said. CCB coordinator said the pressure of gas generated by these plants was 300 per cent more than Sui Gas. He said the pressure remained constant up to 400 feet away. Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2012.