CHITRAL: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Water and Power in its meeting here on Thursday directed the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo) to ink an agreement with the Peshawar Electric Supply Company by January 5 to buy electricity from Golen Gol Hydropower Project (GHP) for its consumers in upper Chitral.

Chaired by MNA from Chitral Shahzada Iftikharuddin and attended by its members Sher Akbar Khan and Junaid Akbar, the meeting was told that over 20,000 consumers of Pedo were without electricity for the last three years when its Reshun hydropower station was washed away by flash flood and the KP government had made no alternative arrangement.

The Pedo representative said that technically it was feasible to connect the transmission line of upper Chitral with Gol hydropower station and assured the committee that an agreement would be formalised with Pesco for its per unit tariff to provide it to the upper Chitral villages.

The committee also asked the authorities to ensure completion of work on the grid stations in Drosh and Juti Lusht by next month before the visit of the prime minister to Chitral during which he would inaugurate the commissioning of GHP.

NA body directs energy organisation to ink agreement with Pesco by Jan 5

It expressed its displeasure over delay in upgradation work of the local hydropower station of Wapda situated at Singoor near Chitral city. It asked Pesco to minimise the duration of power loadshedding in Malakand division.

GHP project director Javed Afridi told the committee that the first unit of the 108MW hydropower project would be completed by January 8.

In Peshawar, leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf from Chitral demanded of the federal government and the water and power ministry to ensure supply of 30 megawatts electricity to the local consumers from Golan Gol Hydropower Project.

They were speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Thursday. PTI MPA Bibi Fauzia rejected the assumption regarding the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government that it was not cooperating for initiation of hydropower development projects in Chitral.

Flanked by PTI Chitral general secretary Israruddin and other activists, she said the incumbent provincial government had initiated various hydropower generation projects, which would generate 78 megawatts of electricity in the district.

The MPA said that the KP government had decided to buy electricity from GHP from Wapda to fulfil the electricity needs of the people of upper Chitral. However, she said it was the right of local people to get 30-35 megawatts of electricity from the project under the head of royalty. She said that Wapda should supply electricity from the project free-of-cost to consumers in the district.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2017