CHITRAL, May 29: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s standing committee on water and power was informed here on Tuesday that nine hydropower projects had been identified by Sarhad Hydel Development Organisation (Shydo) at nine different sites in Chitral district, which would add 1,168 megawatts to the national grid.

The committee chairman, Badshah Saleh, presided over the meeting, which was attended by its members Anwar Khan, Imtiaz, Alamzeb and Ghulam Mohammad. Provincial minister Saleem Khan and district heads of different political parties were also present on the occasion.

The meeting was told that the province was now in a position to launch hydropower projects to exploit the vast potential of hydropower generation, especially in Chitral.

Work on one of the projects would be started within a month in Lawi with a generation capacity of 69 megawatts, while feasibility study of other projects was being carried out. The committee was informed that only the Gahirait-Sweer Lusht project would generate 340 megawatts of electricity.

Water and power additional secretary Usman Yaqoob told the meeting that generation capacity of these nine hydropower projects could be enhanced by 800 megawatts.

In order to cope with acute power shortage in Chitral city, the meeting decided to approach the federal government for getting the local hydropower station transferred to Shydo so that it could be upgraded and people relieved of power outages.