ISLAMABAD, Aug 7: The fate of four hydel power projects in the NWFP having an overall generation capacity of about 650MW hangs in the balance due to resistance from local people and resulting law and order situation.

Consequently, the government is forced to depend upon the costly thermal power to meet immediate energy shortfalls.

Even though hydel power costs a maximum of five cents per unit, the government is forced to offer up to 14.5 cents per unit to private thermal power producers for generating additional power in view of the continued loadshedding in the country this summer.

The power shortage is estimated to cross 2,000MW next year and 5200MW in 2010.

Sources in the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) confirmed that on June 8, 2006, a mob had forced stoppage of work on the 135MW Swat Hydropower Project in Gabral-Kalam district – one of the four projects. Despite hectic efforts and continued talks with provincial and district governments, the work could not resume.

A senior government official said: “If we fail to facilitate the sponsors to re-start work on the Swat project, three more hydel projects on the same river downstream may face similar fate.”

If the government failed to tame saboteurs upstream, it would encourage people downstream to use same tactics and convert the whole region into a political turf as had been happening in case of Kalabagh dam, he said.

The official said in view of the situation, the Ministry of Water and Power wrote a letter to the Federal Interior Ministry, stating: “The matter is related to law and order, therefore you are requested to kindly advise the concerned agencies to provide necessary security and protection to the people working at site.”

Simultaneously, he added, the PPIB has also asked the NWFP government to “intervene into the matter and resolve the dispute”.

The four projects - 147MW Madyan Hydropower project, 200MW Kalam-Asrit project, 220MW Asrit-Kadam project and 135MW Gabral-Kalam project – would not only provide cheap electricity but also yield revenue and generate employment opportunities for local people. Work on the projects is in initial stages.

It is to be mentioned here that in June 2005, the federal government had issued a letter of interest (LOI) to Swat Hydropower Limited (SHL) to conduct within 22 months a feasibility study for establishing a $200 million hydel project at Gabral-Kalam in Swat against a performance guarantee. The proposed project, having a 12-metre high reservoir, would have its site in village Utror and power house at Kalam.

The company had invested $1.2 million on the topographic survey and site investigation. However, the work on the project was stopped by villagers of Utror on June 8, 2006. Since then, all efforts, negotiations and jirgas have failed as regards resumption of work.

According to PPIB, the sponsors of the project are ready to accept all demands of the locals like employment for area people, land acquisition at prevailing market rates through negotiations and compensation for land at a later stage.

However, the federal government is not ready to change the name of the project as demanded by the local people, provide them free electricity, and pay royalty.