PESHAWAR: The Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo) has received 56 proposals for pre-qualification stage for six sites to launch hydropower projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to Pedo chief executive Akbar Ayub, the organisation had advertised six solicited (feasibilities completed) sites and one semi-raw site (feasibility not done) for both the local and international private sector investment.

The projects include Naran (Mansehra 188 megawatt), Ghorband (Shangla 21MW), Nandihar (Battagram 12MW), Arkari Gol (Chitral 99MW), Shigo Kas (Lower Dir 102MW) and Batakundi (Mansehra 96MW) with an overall investment amount of $1.5 billion.

Sharing details with this correspondent, the Pedo chief said that there had been an overwhelming response from the private sector, which submitted 56 proposals showing their confidence in the policies of the government and management of Pedo.

Pedo chief says KP has potential for producing 30,000MW hydropower

He said that Pedo was spearheading the power sector initiative of the province which had a huge hydropower potential of around 30,000MW or approximately 70 per cent of national untapped hydropower potential.

The organisation, he claimed, was working on harnessing this resource for the benefit of the province and country at large. “It has already identified a total of 29 hydropower projects with an investment of around $12 billion,” he said.

Mr Ayub said that Pedo had embarked on a multi-pronged strategy to implement these projects on fast track basis. It is developing these projects both in the public and private sectors.

Work in the public sector is already underway with eight projects of total 270MW at different stages of implementation whereas the private sector initiative has also been launched.

He said that a new investor-friendly KP Hydropower Policy 2016 and associated guidelines had been put in place to attract investment in the sector.

The semi-raw site Sharmai (Dir 150MW) entailed an approximate project cost of $0.5 billion. In total, all the seven projects offered to private sector add up to a capacity of 668MW and an investment of $2.0 billion.

“This is the first time the KP government has taken such a bold initiative to attract private sector investment to the war-torn province,” he said.

Proposals for pre-qualification stage for six solicited sites had been received by Pedo. Once the investment is materialised this will be the biggest in any sector in KP.

“Pedo intends to offer more projects to private sector in the coming months so that maximum number of power projects is initiated to rid the province and country of loadshedding as soon as possible,” he said.

Mr Ayub said that Pedo had also launched a micro-hydel initiative through which it would provide access to energy to rural population of the province.

Through this project, it will construct 356 micro-hydel stations in northern districts of KP. These are community-based projects and will be handed over to community organisations (CBOs) for operations and maintenance.

These projects will provide cheap and clean source of electricity to almost 350,000 people. He said that currently the government / Pedo was enhancing this to 1,000 projects.

The Pedo chief said that ADB had also joined hands with his organisation and was providing technical assistance and funding to various projects.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2016