UPPER DIR: People here have called for starting construction work on the 150MW Sharmai Hydropower Project in Upper Dir to end energy crisis in the district and country. The project was approved about four years ago, but construction work on it has not been started as yet.

The residents claimed that the total electricity need of the district was 20MW and after completion of Sharmai power project the power crisis in Upper Dir would end. The project was approved by the previous provincial government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf about four years ago and it was to be executed by the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation.

The people said that the area had been facing acute shortage of electricity, while the government and Pedo were not showing interest in starting work on the project.

Shehzadullah, a resident of Dir city, said that the people here were suffering from prolonged outages of over 18 hours daily. He said that they had welcomed approval of the project, but the delay in start of work had left them disappointed.

Sources in Pedo said that work on the project would be started in December this year. They said that designing, survey, material testing and other necessary arrangements had been completed. They claimed that the process of bringing heavy machineries to the powerhouse site would be completed in November and work would be started in December. The sources said that total cost of the project was Rs45 billion.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2018