KOHAT, Nov 4: A local company is planning to set up an 180-MW power plant in Lachi town of Kohat at a cost of $180 million.

Executive District Officer (finance) Kohat Hamid-ur-Rehman Khattak told Dawn that a feasibility study for the plant had been completed and the federal government had allowed Interconstruct, an independent power producing company, to go ahead with the project.

He said the plant would be run on furnace oil and would be completed in two years.

A senior representative of the company said that talks on tariff with the government were in a final stage and hoped that it would be finalised in a month or two after which the construction work would start.

Earlier, the plant was proposed to be run on natural gas discovered in the Shakardarra area of Kohat, but its quality was not found up to the required standards.

District Coordination Officer Kamran Zeb said that although the project had been finalised, matters pertaining to province’s interests such as the establishment of tax-free industrial zones, number of districts to be benefited from it and jobs to the local people were yet to be discussed.

He said the NWFP government would be represented by the EDO finance in a meeting to be held next week in Islamabad between representatives of Interconstruct and the federal government.

He said the project would bring about a green revolution in southern districts of the NWFP where millions of acres of barren land would become cultivable through tube-wells. “It will benefit the existing industry by providing smooth supply of power. People will get jobs in industrial zones to be established in Kohat and its frontier region,” he added.The electricity to be generated from the plant will be sold to Wapda.