PESHAWAR: The provincial government has allocated Rs11.652 billion for the ongoing development schemes in the energy and power sector while Rs1.281 billion will be spent on new projects.
It was revealed in the 14th meeting of the Board of Directors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hydel Development Fund held here with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair, said a statement issued on Sunday.
The allocated funds would be utilised for completion of 21 ongoing schemes and 19 new projects.
Provincial Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Special Assistant to Chief Minister Himayatullah Khan, Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz, Additional Chief Secretary ShakeelQadir, finance secretary, energy and power secretary, chief executive officer of Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation, managing director of Bank of Khyber and other members of the board attended the meeting.
The meeting was informed that total revenue of Rs31.194 billion was collected from Malakand-3 hydropower project and Pehur hydropower station whereas revenue of Rs2.8 billion was added to the provincial exchequer during the financial year 2019-20.
The meeting was told that work in progress on hydropower projects of Jabori, Karora and Lower Dir that would have production capacity of 10.2 megawatts, 11.80 megawatts and 40.8 megawatts, respectively, after completion.
It said that 302 mini hydropower projects were completed in various districts of the province while handing and taking over process of 264 schemes was also completed.
The meeting was informed that solarisation of Chief Minister Secretariat and Civil Secretariat was completed. Similarly, solarisation of 100 villages in southern and central districts of the province was also completed under the alternate energy resource scheme.
“Solarisation of 300 mosques and worship places of minorities in tribal districts has been completed with a total cost of Rs183 million,” the statement said.
It said that procurement process was initiated for solarisation of 4,000 mosques in settled districts. Work is in progress on solarisation of 8,000 schools and 187 basic health units in the province.
Talking on the occasion, the chief minister said that government was taking result-oriented steps to effectively use the hydropower potential of the province. He added that work was in progress on a number of important hydropower projects.
Mr Khan said that after completion, those projects would help a great deal to address the power shortage issue as well as ensure uninterrupted power supply to the local industrial units for creating employment opportunities in the province. He directed the high ups of energy and power department to ensure completion of all hydropower projects as per the given timeline.
