D.I. KHAN, Jan 12: The federal minister for water and power said on Sunday that the government was giving priority to the hydro-power projects for providing low-cost electricity to domestic consumers and the industrial sector.

Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao was speaking on the inauguration of the 132kv Chashma-D.I. Khan transmission line, which was completed in 10 months with a cost of Rs210 million.

This new line will ensure provision of alternative power to D.I. Khan, that has been receiving electricity only from Kot Addu line.

The minister said the facility would improve voltage and ensure provision of power to more villages under the Village Electrification Programme.

He said that more dams would be constructed under the Wapa’s Vision 2025, which he said would boost the industrial development and help bring more land under cultivation.

Sherpao said Gomal Zam Dam would be completed by 2006.

He said a feasibility study for the Chashma Left Bank Canal would also be carried out. This plan, he added, would help bring 240,000 acres of land under cultivation.

Later, the minister spoke at a public rally in Kulachi.

When Sherpao reached the Rata Kulachi Afghan Refugees Camp, inmates welcomed him chanting slogans about the Pak-Afghan friendship.

Pakistan was hosting over three million Afghans for over two decades, the minister said and told the displaced people that 1.5 million Afghan refugees were being repatriated currently while over 400,000 DPs would be sent this year.

The minister also visited the GTZ-funded basic education school for girls and a stall of Afghan embroidery made by women refugees. Sherpao took keen interest in this income-generating activity and said this skill needed to be marketed to a full potential.

He announced the approval of handpumps for providing potable water to the refugees, okayed provision of power to the camp and asked the authorities concerned for providing land to the refugees for a graveyard.—APP