ISLAMABAD, July 9: A Senate sub-committee has called for immediate utilisation of a Kuwaiti loan for electrification of 700 villages in Balochistan.

The sub-committee of the Senate Functional Committee on Government Assurances which met on Wednesday with its convener Senator Syed Dilawar Abbas stressed the need for expediting work on the project because any further delay would increase the cost of the project and aggravate problems.

Senator Liaquat Ali Bungalzai told Dawn that members of the committee had suggested that MNAs and senators from Balochistan should be given an opportunity to either identify the villages to be electrified or funds be allocated to parliamentarians.

They said Balochistan was an underdeveloped province and the government must focus on speedy development of the province to enable its people to contribute to socio-economic prosperity of the country.

The committee urged the government to overcome the electricity shortfall on a war footing and meet the gap between demand and supply.

It decided to take up the issue with the Balochistan chief minister and Wapda officials and urge them to remove bottlenecks in the way of smooth implementation of the project.

Earlier, the chief executive of the Quetta Electric Supply Company (Qesco) informed the committee that five million Kuwaiti dinars had been allocated in 1994 to electrify 700 villages and build three grid stations. He said the identification of villages was the only hurdle that had delayed the project.

The committee assured Wapda and Qesco of its full support for the project.

The meeting was attended by Senators Bangulzai and Mohammad Ali Durrani. Senator Shahid Bugti attended on invitation. The secretary of the ministry of water and power and senior officials of Qesco were also present.