PESHAWAR, June 15: Work on Munda dam project is likely to be started by December this year, says Wapda Chairman Tariq Hameed. He was talking to journalists during a visit to Shabqadar on Tuesday.

The Wapda chairman said that the government had assigned a high priority to the project, adding that it would greatly benefit the NWFP. The chairman Wapda was informed by the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco) officials that the recovery ratio in the Shabqadar division was almost 99 per cent but there were some problems in localities adjacent to the tribal areas where the recovery ratio was only 2.8 per cent.

There were 82 marble factories in these localities and after an agreement between the owners of marble factories located in the area and Pesco, the recovery from localities adjacent to the tribal area had increased from Rs1.1 million to Rs2.4 million.

Problems of low-voltage and over-consumption were present in the Shabqadar division and 11 incident had occurred in which Pesco property had been damaged. Pesco officials said that the use of illegal power supply connections in this area was also causing financial loss to the company.

No FIRs were registered in such cases and no appropriate legal action was taken against the people involved, which they said was encouraging the misuse of electrical power, the officials said.

They also briefed the Wapda chairman about problems encountered by company workers, adding that lack of proper security arrangements often hampered Pesco staff from performing their duties.

Pesco officials said that tampering of the electricity meters should be stopped and legal action should be taken against people who were found to be involved in power theft.