PESHAWAR, July 19: The NWFP government has finally decided to construct Malakand-III Hydropower project near Dargai in Malakand Agency, some 110 kilometres north-east of Peshawar.

The tenders for the civil works are expected to be floated in the next couple of days.

Presiding over a high-level meeting, NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah gave the go-ahead to the Sarhad Hydel Development Organization (SHYDO) to invite international bidding for this gigantic project designed to generate 81MW electricity.

The meeting, besides others, was attended by provincial ministers Shams-ul-Mulk and Farid Rehman, and Managing Director SHYDO Younas Marwat.

This project is estimated to cost billions of rupees and would be completed in three years.

The provincial government has already expressed its intention to utilize the electricity, as a result of this project, for industrial development, and efforts are already afoot to establish an Industrial Estate near the power house at Dargai in Malakand Agency.

Speaking on the occasion the governor said, the provincial government’s decision reflects its confidence in its institutional system and, both, the people and the provincial government have pinned great hopes on the Irrigation and Power Department, especially the SHYDO in materializing the project according to the initial plan.

The governor stressed the importance of on-time completion of the project and the quality of the work. He also hoped that the entire staff of the project would work with devotion.

This would be a test case for the province, he added, as it intends to launch more projects of similar nature to exploit its hidden natural wealth.