ABBOTTABAD, July 13: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said the government would not retreat from its stand on installing electricity meters at the residences of power consumers in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Any resistance to the installation of power meters from any quarter would prove futile, he said while speaking at a function after inaugurating a 132kv grid station at Kala Bagh in Nathiagali on Saturday.

Meter installation was the only solution to the problem of recovering electricity charges in tribal areas, the governor said, adding the government would not only install meter at each household, but would also erect bulk meters to ensure complete transparency in the recovery process.

Talking about hydel power generation potential of the NWFP, he said the Chitral district alone had a capacity to generate between 2,000 and 4,000mw electricity. The provincial government, he said, was making efforts to exploit these resources to supply electricity at cheaper rates and promote industrialization.

There was a vast scope for the private sector’s investment in this connection, he observed.

Chief Executive of Peshawar Electricity Supply Company Brig Khalid in his address said the new grid station had been installed to replace the depleted network and to improve the power load.

The new grid station, set up at a cost of Rs87 million, had three feeders which would provide electricity to Nathiagali, Magool and Ayubia areas, the Pesco chief said.

Pesco had also started a number of projects out of which some had been completed, whereas work on the remaining was in full swing, he added.

Brig Khalid said during the last financial year, Pesco provided electricity to 439 villages and constructed 290km-long-transmission lines in the province.

Besides, he said, 447 schemes had been completed under which 485 transformers had been installed at a cost of Rs430 million.

Similarly, he said, 260,000 new electricity connections had been given during the last four years, including 32,000 commercial, 1,100 industrial and 1,200 connections for tubewells.

Besides, work on the establishment of nine new and additional transformers in six existing grid stations was also in progress, he informed the gathering.

The function was attended among others by provincial ministers Abeedullah Jan and Athar Minaullah, district Nazimeen of Abbottabad and Mansehra.