July 14, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 13, 1424

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ATTOCK, July 13: The rapid fall of heavy silt in the power channel of Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project (GBHP) during the current rain spell is posing a serious threat to the project.

The 10-meter deep and 100-meter wide power channel, which is the world’s largest concrete channel, starts about seven kilometres downstream of the Tarbela and extends up to 52km at power house near Barotha (Attock).

The inner portion of the power channel was fully concreted to avoid concentration of mud and slit, which can reduce water storage capacity and life of the power channel besides impeding smooth flow of water to its end point.

The project authorities are well aware of this serious situation but they are keeping mum to avoid further delay in the commissioning of the first 290 Mega Watt (MW) unit by the end of July. The project was to be commissioned in April, 2002.

Sources also disclosed that the power channel was not properly desilted before the release of water, while the expenditure in this regard was shown. The project is still with the water wing of Wapda and GBHP authorities and will be handed over to the power wing after its completion.

IT training: Executive District Officer (EDO) Literacy and Information Technology, Attock district, Professor Waris Khan has said as many as 80 government employees of different departments in the district would be trained in advanced computer course in the current month under a special IT promotion programme.

He said as many as 10 IT centres were functioning in five Tehsils of the districts where about 1,000 students were seeking IT education at nominal charges.