He asked the people to remain patient because there was no quick fix to the energy crisis tormenting the country.
“I will take oath (of prime minister’s office) on June 5. But people should not start saying from June 6 that Nawaz has come but electricity has not come. You will have to demonstrate patience.
“I can say we will solve the problem in three or five years but I will not say so. But we will try to overcome the energy crisis as early as possible,” Mr Sharif said while speaking at a function held here on Tuesday to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the country’s nuclear tests.
Resolving the energy crisis was the main slogan on which the PML-N had built its election campaign. The PML-N chief’s younger brother Shahbaz Sharif had promised during the campaign to end loadshedding in six months to two years.
After achieving victory in the May 11 polls, the former prime minister had asked people not to take seriously whatever Shahbaz said when he was emotionally charged.
On Tuesday he dwelt upon the energy crisis and economic challenges faced by the country.
“Isn’t it unfortunate that a nuclear power is without power for up to 20 hours a day? Are other nuclear powers in a similar state? We should determine why the country does not have electricity. India is also a nuclear power. Both countries were at the same level when they carried out nuclear tests. Pakistan was even ahead. Our currency was stronger than India’s and now see the grave challenges we are facing today,” he said.
“The people ask me when the issue of loadshedding will be resolved. I tell them: do not expect that the power problem will be solved in days. I tell them we will make sincere efforts to solve it as early as possible,” he said, adding that the people would see that things were heading in the right direction and everything would be right soon.
Concerned over his party’s image, he said when the PML-N government came to power earlier, there was a flour crisis and people had started saying the “lion had eaten up flour”. “Now I ask them not to start saying that the lion has eaten up electricity.”
Mr Sharif said the PML-N government was going to inherit “mountains of problems”. “Which problem we address, poverty or loadshedding?” he asked.
Asking the people not to forget these problems, he said: “We have passion to solve them and the people should see our passion. We had carried out nuclear tests and now we will carry out an economic explosion in five years.”
About the options the government would have while dealing with the energy crisis, Mr Sharif said electricity would have to be produced from coal and bagasse. Bhasha Dam is nearing completion but the project needs $10-15 billion.
He said those involved in power theft must not escape punishment. “If the power theft is checked half the problem will be solved.”
He said the PML-N would get the best managers, even from abroad if needed. He urged China to set up power plants in the country.
“We want to live with respect and do not want to beg,” he said, adding that foreign firms setting up power plants would be allowed to transfer their profits.
Mr Sharif had his own interpretation of the voting pattern in each federating unit. “Punjab’s decision is wise, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s emotional, Sindh’s traditional and Balochistan, a tribal province, voted for the PML-N,” he said.
The PML-N has secured an overwhelming majority in Punjab, but it was routed in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said the media used to say that no party would secure a majority. It talked about “fractured and split mandate”. “Pakistan needs no fractured mandate. It needs a stable government with the writ to solve problems.”
He said: “Those who have voted for the PML-N as well as those who haven’t are pinning hope on us. They have confidence in the PML-N and we will not disappoint them.”
He talked about a joint plan with China to address poverty and joblessness. “The Chinese prime minister who has been elected recently told me that everyone in China knows me. We have made a joint plan and if it is implemented both countries will benefit from it. There will be prosperity in Pakistan. I will talk about it in detail after taking the oath,” he said.
Mr Sharif said the PML-N government would make a plan to give shelter to the homeless and provide loans on soft terms.
