Prime Minister opens K-P hydropower project | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Prime Minister opens K-P hydropower project

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf inaugurated on Saturday the Khan Khwar hydropower project in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Bisham district.

In his address at the ceremony, the premier said that upon its completion the project would add 72MW to the national grid.

“(Power) generation through hydropower projects is our main focus in order to produce low-cost, environment-friendly electricity,” he added.

Talking about the government’s course of action to resolve the energy crisis, PM Ashraf said all hydropower projects, including Neelum, Jehlum, Dober, Kohal and Dasu, will be initiated soon while work on the Thar coal project had already started.

The premier was also given a detailed briefing on the project by the project’s head. He was informed that the Khan Khwar project, part of the Water and Power Development Authority’s (Wapda) energy generation plan, had been constructed at the Indus River’s right bank rivulet in the Shangla district. It had been completed at a cost of Rs11 billion, with the Islamic Development Bank contributing Rs5 billion as financial assistance.

The Khan Khwar project consists of a 46-metre high and 112-metre wide dam, a five-kilometre tunnel, a power house and a switchyard. It has been connected to the national grid via a 220/132kV transmission line.

Responding to demands presented by Wapda Chairman Shakil Durrani, Prime Minister Ashraf sanctioned a grid station, cadet college and passport office at Bisham and announced an extra month’s salary for the authority’s employees working on the project.

The Express Tribune