BAJAUR: A solar power project launched by the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo) to provide uninterrupted electricity to the Khar Bazaar at low rates has yet to be completed despite the fact that work on it was launched in 2019, official sources and traders said.

Sources in Pedo told Dawn that the Mini Solar Grid Station is one of nine such projects planned for the merged districts to provide residents with uninterrupted electricity at low rates amid ongoing power shortages.

They said that these projects had an estimated cost of Rs575 million and were launched with financial support from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Annual Development Programme about seven years ago.

Sources familiar with the scheme, based at Adil Chowk along the Shandi-Khar Bypass near Khar town, added that work on the Rs40 million project, which was launched in 2019, was scheduled to be completed in 2024.

Pedo official says funds shortage causing delay

The sources noted that the mini grid station had a capacity of 175kV, and included 324 solar panels of 580 watts each, and featured a boundary wall and a control room.

However, the sources and the residents told this correspondent that the scheme remained non-functional and non-operational nearly two years after its completion deadline, even though most of the work had already been finished.

A Pedo official in Peshawar, when contacted, confirmed that despite the completion of most of the basic work, the project was yet to be made operational.

The official serving as an assistant director at Pedo, who wished to remain anonymous, told Dawn that the scheme remains non-operational for two reasons: a shortage of funds for laying the 1km transmission line and resistance from the local community to the transmission line passing through their lands and houses.

Moreover, the official said that recent construction work on the Khar Bypass, along which the project is located, has lowered the site level, causing rainwater and drainage water to collect at the solar panel site.

He noted that this was not only causing a delay in making the project operational but also putting the solar panels at risk, as large amounts of water had accumulated at the site since its level was lowered by road construction some two years ago.

He said that removing the solar panels from the site to fill it was crucial to make the project operational, and stated that this would require additional funding, which needs fresh approval.

The official said that, as per the plan, the project would be run directly by Pedo for the initial two years once it becomes functional.

After two years, he said, the project would be managed by a committee comprising the additional deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner, Khar, and the president and general secretary of Khar Bazaar.

He said that, according to the plan, the project’s profit — around Rs14 per unit collected from customers — would be spent on its maintenance and staff salaries.

Meanwhile, people from different walks of life, including political and social figures and traders, have expressed concern over the prolonged delay in making the scheme operational.

Amir Rehman, a former president of Khar Traders’ Association, said traders in Khar Bazaar, especially those whose work depends on electricity, are concerned about the unnecessary delay in completing the project. He added they had approached Pedo officials at least three times to get the scheme operational in 2024 and 2025, but to no avail.

The association’s current president, Wajid Ali Shah, said the absence of a Pedo set-up in Bajaur was also one of the reasons for the delay in making the project functional.

Deputy Commissioner Shahid Ali Khan confirmed that officials of Pedo had agreed during a meeting held on February 4, 2026, to begin filling and levelling the site where the solar panels are installed in order to prevent the accumulation of rainwater there.

He said the prolonged non-functionality of the project due to minor issues had remained a serious concern for the district administration.

He said the officials had also agreed to start work on the transmission line from the project site to Khar Bazaar after he informed them that an alternative route for the line had been selected.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2026