The government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has approved the construction of 356 micro hydel stations with a power generation capacity of 35 megawatts (MW) with the help of non-government organisations (NGOs) in various parts of the province.
Work on various ongoing energy projects of oil, gas, thermal and hydel has begun through the utilisation of provincial-based natural resources, in a bid to make K-P a energy hub.
Various committees have been constituted for energy expertise to remove hurdles blocking various on-going energy projects in the province.
These decisions were taken by the Board of Directors for Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) during its second meeting which was held under the chairmanship of Tariq Iqbal Khan.
During the meeting, the organisation’s secretary gave a detailed presentation to the board members regarding the work pace and problems faced during the implementation of the projects.
He added that in keeping with the vision of change of the current provincial government, it has been decided to construct 356 community-based micro hydel stations through NGOs with the total cost of Rs4.7 billion from Hydel Development Funds (HDF).
These mini stations will be constructed in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Batagram, Tor Ghar, Kohistan, Malakand, Buner, Swat, Shangla, Dir (Upper/Lower) and Chitral having total capacity of 35MW and so far six local NGOs have shown interest to develop these projects.
The board has given approval to start work on the large capacity of hydropower projects in the province although seven projects will be advertised in order to develop these in the private sector.
Khan said that K-P is blessed with abundant natural resources for oil and gas, thermal and hydel generation which should be utilised for curbing the current energy crisis in the country.
He further stressed to boost the work pace on the ongoing energy projects and planned to complete them within the stipulated time period.