April 1, 2019: The Khyber Pakthunkhwa government has added 67.2 megawatt electricity to the national grid after completion of three hydropower projects during last five years in the province.
“We have completed three hydropower projects and 266 mini macro hydropower projects (MMHPP) with electricity generation capacity of 67.2MW in 2013-18 in KP and added it to the national grid,” said officials of KP Energy Department on Monday.
Giving details of the completed projects, the official said Machai hydropower project (HPP) having total capacity of 2.6MW has been completed in Mardan district in 2018 after work on it was started in 2013.
Similarly, Ronalia HPP in Kohistan with 17MW capacity has been completed by Pakthunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) last year. Daral Khwar hydropower project of 36.6MW is another project completed in Swat district during tenure of last PTI Government.
The government has expedited work on 356mini macro hydropower stations and so far completed 266 mini macro hydropower projects (MMHPP) in 11 different districts of Khyber Pakthunkhwa whereas work on 66 others were underway in the province.
As per actual 356 MMHPPs were identified following its announcement by PTI Chairman in 2014 against which feasibility studies of 332 were approved and 24 sites were dropped due to various reasons.
Out of 266 completed projects so far, as many as 15 MMHPPs were completed in Abbottabad, 52 Batagram, 50 Chitral, 40 Swat, 28 Kohistan and 21 Shangla.
Likewise, 37MMHPPs were completed in Upper Dir district, four in Lower Dir, 13 in Buner, one in Manshera and four in Torghar district. These projects were completed with the help of different NGOs and PEDO.
After winter season and snowfall, construction work on remaining 66 MMHPPs was resumed with direction to implemented NOGs and concerned departments to complete it within stipulated time without compromising on quality.
KP Government is now focusing on completion of remaining hydropower projects in the province and is likely to add 215MW electricity to the national grid by 2022.
He said work on KOTO HPP with 40.8MW capacity was in full swing in Lower Dir district and is expected to be completed by end of this year.
Similarly, work on Karora HPP with 10.8MW capacity in Shangla district and Jabori HPP of 11.2MW capacity in Manshera district was underway and will be completed by December this year.
To make the province self-sufficient in energy, he said mega projects such as Lawi HPP with 69 MW in Chitral and Mataltan HPP with 84MW in Swat were expedited and expected to be completed by 2022.
With completion of these projects, the problems of energy shortfall will be addressed and people will get inexpensive electricity for agriculture, industrial and domestic consumption.
(APP)
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