PESHAWAR, July 25: The chief executive of the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco) has said the company will spend Rs7 billion during the current fiscal year to improve the power supply system in the NWFP.

Brig Tahir Saeed Malik was briefing Federal Minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Pesco performance, according to a press release issued here on Sunday.

The chief executive said the company had reduced its line losses and recovered Rs27 billion this year, up by 11 per cent against last year's Rs18 billion. The minister was also informed that except in the southern districts where system was overloaded due to the closure of Chasma power plant, no loadshedding was done in any part of the province.

He said 1,787 out-of-order transformers in the province had been replaced with new ones. The company, he said, had spent Rs250 million on the construction of new grid stations and hundreds of metres transmission line had been laid at a cost of Rs300 million.

The minister was informed that work on mega projects for improving the power supply system in the NWFP was also in progress. For providing relief to the subscribers of Peshawar and Mardan, work on Shahi Bagh grid station and transmission line was in progress which he said would cost Rs1.6 billion. -APP