QUETTA, April 17: Balochistan Governor Justice (retd) Amirul Mulk Mengal has said that the provincial government and Quetta Electricity Supply Company (Qesco) are taking concrete steps to promote the agricultural sector.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the 132-kv Khadkocha Grid Station project here on Tuesday, he said Qesco had been playing a vital role in improving the supply of electricity in the past three years.

The governor said Qesco had constructed various grid stations and had erected new transmission lines for supplying electricity even to the far-flung areas of the province for developing agriculture.

On completion, the Khadkocha Grid Station would fulfil a longstanding demand of the area people, who had been facing problems due to the drought that had been hitting the province for many years.

Mr Mengal said Qesco was making efforts for improving the supply of power to the rural areas to boost agriculture produce, while the provincial government had launched many projects for improving the underground water table and for searching new water resources to overcome the shortage of water. He hoped that the results of the projects would be visible very soon.

He also hoped that the problem of overloading that Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar, Nal and Waad had been facing for time would be resolved with the construction 132-kv Quetta-Mangochar transmission line.

He called upon the landlords to pay electricity bills regularly so that Qesco could launch more projects for improving the system of power supply.

Brig Agha Ahmed Gul, chief executive officer of Qesco, highlighted the importance of various projects. He said the Khadkocha Grid Station project would be completed in 14 months at a cost of Rs40 million, and would electrify around 200 villages.

Mastung district Nazim Mir Ghuman Hussain Sarpara presented a welcome address at the ceremony.