PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief MinisterMahmood Khan on Tuesday said his government had taken ‘pragmatic’ steps for the production of cheaper and environment-friendly electricity in the province.

Chairing a meeting that reviewed progress on the energy and power department’s projects here, the chief minister said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government was contributing significantly to power production in the country.

“Ours is the only province, which is producing clean energy at the cheapest possible rates and thus, contributing to national development,” he said.

Mr Mahmood said more than 7,400 schools, 5,672 mosques, 134 basic health units and 6,643 houses in 100 villages across the province had been provided with solar energy under the Annual Development Programme at the cost of Rs9.134 billion.

He also said 895 mosques and five churches in tribal districts had also been ‘solarised’ besides the completion of seven hydropower projects, which contributed 161MW electricity to the national grid and had so far generated Rs31.026 billion revenue.

The meeting was briefed about the department’s ongoing and completed projects in hydel and solar energy sectors.

Officials said Reshun, Shishi, Machai, Ranolia and 36.6MW Daral Khwar hydel projects had been completed during the PTI government, whereas the 10.2MW Jabori hydropower project in Mansehra district would be ready for inauguration in the current month.

They also said work was under way on 11.8MW Karora, 40.8MW Koto, 84MW Matiltan and 69MW Lawi power projects and it was expected to be completed by the end of the ongoing fiscal.

The officials said construction of 10.5MW Chapri Charkhel and 6.5MW Barandu Hydel Power Projects has also underway and once completed, the ongoing projects were expected to generate Rs9.015 billion revenue annually.

The chief minister clarified that significant resources have been invested by the provincial government in the clean and green energy sector in order to meet the country’s energy demands, promote industrialisation and to generate revenue.

Regarding the ongoing hydel power projects funded by donor organisations, the meeting was informed that work on 300MW Balakot, 88MW Gabral Kalam and 157MW Madyan electricity initiatives was under way and it would be completed at the estimated cost of Rs210.3 billion to generate Rs28.66 billion revenue every year.

As for the public-private partnership and PSDP-plus projects, officials said initial work on 470MW Spat Gah project in Kohistan, 96MW in Batakundi and 188MW in Naran had been launched, while 22MW Patrak Shringal, 47MW Barikot Patrak and 495MW Kari Maskur hydel power projects had been proposed for the next PSDP.

They said nine solar power projects had been completed with a cumulative capacity of 26MW and that they would save Rs422 million every year.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2022