With the government unable to provide help, it is left to the people to help themselves
DIR Kohistan, a beautiful yet remote backward upland valley sits pretty on the foothills of the Hindukush bordering Afghanistan.
Like many other alpine water shed areas of Pakistan, large-scale deforestation, degradation of grazing lands, land slides and persistent soil erosion, and degeneration of other natural resources were major symptoms causing poverty and resource degradation. That is until the European Union funded ERNP Dir Kohistan Project made a mark on the livelihood of these forsaken communities.
The story of light and sounds in Dir Kohistan began with a diagnostic survey in 1997. It was found that only eight per cent households were electrified from the national grid and a local power station managed by Sarhad Hydroelectric Development Organization (SHYDO) at Thal. The survey noted that abundant water resources in the area remained under-utilized. That is when the initiative for setting up Micro Hydropower Stations started with a 50KW power station in Jandrai was started. Eventually it was built by the village organization of Roh Themil.
The project, like other initiatives of DKP, adopted a participatory approach. The power station costed a million rupees, out of which community contributed 30 per cent while the rest was borne by DKP. Purchase was done jointly by the project staff and the community members, while construction work was supervised by the village organization itself. Much of the construction activity was carried out by the community members. When commissioned, the power house lit up no less than two hundred houses in the area.
Seeing the success of the first station, another one was established at Biar village in collaboration with Kheyber Village Organization. This power station electrified 90 houses, which later rose to 120. It can be noted here that construction in Dir Kohistan is not an easy job as construction machinery is absent and beasts of burden, like donkeys and mules, are not raised. Therefore, people themselves have to carry all the material to the construction site on their backs. This requires a lot of dedication, particularly if the work is communal in nature. The construction of the power station costed Rs1.1 million out of which Rs300,000 were borne by the community.
To celebrate their success, a feast was arranged and people from other villages, project staff of the DKP as well as the government officials were invited to the event. This power house at Biar created a great multiplier effect, mainly because of this event and also because of the location of the village, which makes electric lights visible to all travellers passing through the area.
The initiative spurred construction of no less than 86 micro hydropower stations in 48 villages by the communities on self-help basis since 2000. The generators set up independently and owned privately or by communities produce a total of 1072 KW of electricity.
Generally, the installation cost of a private power station ranges between Rs6000 to Rs500,000, depending upon the generator’s capacity to produce power, quality of the construction of the powerhouse and the power channel. Their generation capacity varies from 0.5KW to 30KW and the number of households benefiting from a single power station varies from 75 to 200 households. Installation and operational mechanism of these power stations varies from community to community. In most cases, communities jointly bear the installation expenses. In other cases a single entrepreneur or a group of entrepreneurs bear the expenses and then sell electricity to community members at extremely reasonable rates.
In Siasan Valley, for example, eight households joined hands to set up a small power station at a cost of Rs75,000. In Bari Kot, an entrepreneur, Gul Sahibzada has set up an MHP and is selling electricity mainly to people who want to use it for commercial purposes. So far, the project has supported 16 organizations and set up their own MHPs. These MHPs have a generation capacity of 844KW and they have benefited more than 3600 households.
This trend has been made possible mainly because of the capacity building of the community and a direct helping hand from ERNP-DKP, which has trained locals in the art of establishing power stations and running them. The local technicians trained with the project have played a major role in installing new private power stations. In many instances, groups of people invoke the technical help of the project for setting up a power station. Such a call for help always gets a positive response from the project. The ERNP Programme was launched in January 1997 having three project areas, two in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and one in the Punjab province of Pakistan. In the NWFP, two upland areas selected are Dir Kohistan and Galiat area and in Punjab they are Murree, Kohuta and Kotli Sattian.
Compared with the electricity supplied from the national grid, the electricity produced by MHPs is twelve times cheaper. This, according to an estimate means a saving of Rs28.8 million for the Dir Kohistan valley. The use of electricity generated by MHPs, therefore not only improves the lifestyle, but also helps alleviate poverty by decreasing expenses incurred on lighting the house at night.
Like Qari Rahatullah, a teacher, who says, “Kerosene oil is Rs25 for a litre and I used spend Rs400 on it every month.” Another, Rehmanuddin, a farmer says, “Whatever money is saved, I spend it on my children.”
Electricity has also contributed to improving public health in Dir Kohistan, since kerosene was too expensive for most villagers, they preferred wood. And a local variety called shontai was used for lighting purposes.
“Our houses were full of smoke during winter and we used to get sick too often because of constant inhaling of smoke,” says Mohammad Ayub, a community member in Kalkot.
Due to substitution of firewood with the tube light, the burden on the forests has decreased tremendously. The firewood is extracted from the butt-end of precious Deodar (Cedrus Deodara) tree. On average two households use one tree per year. Many locals believe that electrification alone has decreased the use of forest resources by a third.
“Nothing has helped save forests more than electrification,” says Gulnoor Shah, a well-known forestry rights activist in the area. MHPs have also helped agriculture production in the area as the water channels prepared for the power stations also used for irrigation.
Women folk too benefited a lot. Today they can work at a time of their own choice and can move at night comfortably. As carbon soot from torches used to darken the walls of the houses every winter, women were required to plaster their houses with mud every autumn, which required weeks of hard labour. Women also spend less time on collecting fuel-wood; washing machine and other electronic devices have taken a lot of burden off their heads and radios and televisions have brought them rare entertainment.
Perhaps what is most important of all, maintenance of MHPs has promoted cohesiveness and unity among the people and enhanced the participatory decision making process. Besides the management and financial skills of the communities have improved through these practices.
For ninety-year old Zeest Shah, a resident of Bari Kot village in Dir Kohistan, having an electric bulb for lighting is a whole new experience; an experience that redefined his life and brightens his sense of being.
“Dark nights used to turn me into a cripple, making me totally dependent on others,” says he, “Now I can move about and do my work like a teenager,” he adds with a toothless smile.
With the government unable to provide help, it is left to the people to help themselves 
