Zardari inaugurates two hydel power plants

[Edevelop]

SUKKUR: Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari on Monday laid the foundation stone of two hydel power plants in Sukkur. One plant will be built at Rohri Canal and the other at Nara Canal, the two offshoots of left pocket of Sukkur Barrage.

The plant at RD-27 of Rohri Canal will be installed at a cost of $36.4 million, while the other will be built at RD-15 of Nara Canal at a cost of $47 million.

Both the power plants will be operated on run-of-river basis and are billed to be completed within 20 months. These power stations are being built by the Sindh government under the public-private partnership mechanism. Zardari was accompanied by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and the provincial minister for finance and energy, Syed Murad Ali Shah.

All the roads leading to Sukkur Barrage and the national highway were closed for traffic, as the former president opted to travel to the inauguration site in a motorcade instead of using a helicopter.

Media persons were not allowed to cover the ceremony. The provincial minister for finance and energy, Murad Ali Shah, who was supposed to brief journalists in the office of the executive engineer Sukkur Barrage, asked the barrage authorities to send the media representatives to the Sukkur airport for the briefing.

The media persons, however, boycotted the briefing in protest.

Trip to Sukkur: Zardari inaugurates two hydel power plants – The Express Tribune