PESHAWAR, Jan 11: The NWFP government signed on Friday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Sarhad Hydel Development Organization (SHYDO) and Frontier Works Organization (FWO) here at the Governor House to carry out civil works of Malakand-3 Hydropower Project, Dargai.

The civil works include construction of open channel, tunnels, sediment excluder, spillway, forebay, powerhouse building, tailrace, wasteway and access roads.

The execution of the civil works is estimated to cost about Rs1.7 billion in three years. The total cost of the project, including the civil works and electro-mechanical equipment, is $112 million.

The project, which will generate about 562GWH annually, will ensure net revenues of about one billion rupees per annum for the province. The project will also facilitate irrigation of about, 20,000 acres of barren land in the Bazai area.

Consultants have already been appointed to work out a detailed design and supervise the construction work. The civil works under this MoU will be undertaken by the FWO by Feb 2002.

NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah that said signing of the MoU was a practical step on part of the government to ensure improved storage and exploitations of water resources.

He said there were in the province ample water resources, which needed to be tapped and promoted for economic prosperity of the province.

He hoped that the process would create new opportunities of employment, and said the government wanted to launch more and more such projects.

The governor said private companies and investors would be given incentives, ranging from facilitation to policy formulation and execution of projects.

  He also hoped that the project would go a long way in the overall development of the province.