MINGORA: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said on Saturday that his government had put the province on the path of development and prosperity and soon the whole country would witness real change in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He was addressing a big gathering at the inaugural ceremony of 150KW mini hydropower project (MHP) at Lalkoo area of Matta tehsil in Swat. The power project was constructed by Sarhad Rural Support Programme in collaboration with the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo).

“In the first phase our government will complete 356 mini hydropower units in the northern districts of KP and in the second phase work on 1,000 more units will be started which will make the province free of loadshedding,” he said.

Khattak inaugurates 150KW hydropower project in Swat

Criticising the federal government, Mr Khattak said that it had been giving the KP only 10 per cent of its due 13 and half per cent share of electricity since 2010.

The chief minister said that the federal government was deliberately observing power loadshedding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “Soon we will close all the Pesco offices in the province against the undue power loadshedding,” he said, adding that PML-N’s Amir Muqam should first give its due right of electricity to Swat, but he would not do so as he only wanted chair.

He claimed that 300 million trees of the one billion trees project had already been planted and 300 million more trees would be planted. “The one billion tree plantation project will be a historical project in the country which will bring change in real sense not only in the province, but also in the entire country,” he said.

Mr Khattak said that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government was successfully implementing its agenda of change in the province in which systems of the institutions were being streamlined. “We are bringing public-centered policies and have brought revolutionary reforms in police, health and education departments,” he said.

He also approved some projects for the valley, including land for a graveyard, a BHU, 13km road from Sakhra to Gabina Jabba, land for the Khpal Kor Foundation at Matta and Rokhana Pakhtunkhwa Programme in Swat. The local communities in Lalkoo valley thanked the SRSP and government for constructing the MHP and approving other projects in their area.

The 150kW mini hydropower project at Bar Lalko area in Sakhra valley of Matta tehsil was constructed with the total cost of Rs24.64 million which will illuminate about 700 houses in the area. The groundbreaking ceremony of the MHP was attended by PTI chairman Imran Khan.

The Lalko MHP is part of ‘The Construction of 356 Mini/Micro Hydro Power Projects in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’, under which 105 power units are under construction in Swat, Shangla and Kohistan districts. Of the 105 units, 45 are being constructed in Swat and 18 of them have so far been completed.

Later, the chief minister inaugurated the Rescue 1122 in Saidu Sharif, Swat.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2016