KP government initiates work on Rs55b solarisation projects

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has initiated the execution of two mega projects worth around Rs55 billion for solarisation of all public buildings and provision of solar units to households having low income.

A memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) were signed between Bank of Khyber (BoK) and Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (PEDO) for the implementation of Solarisation projects, at a ceremony held here at Chief Minister’s House with Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur as the chief guest.

Besides newly appointed Special Assistant to CM for Energy and Power Tariq Sadozai, higher authorities of Energy and Power, Finance departments and PEDO also attended the MoUs signing ceremony.

As per MoUs, under solarisation of public buildings across the province project, all public buildings including hospitals, universities, colleges, schools, police stations, prisons, tube wells, street lights and other government offices will be solarized. The estimated cost of the overall project is Rs 20 billion. Initially, 13000 public buildings have been identified for conversion to solar energy and their solarization will be carried out at an estimated cost of Rs 15 billion.

Moreover, under the solarisation of houses project, a total of 130,000 households having low income would be provided with solar units. Out of total, 65,000 households will be provided solar units free of cost whereas remaining 65,000 houses will be provided solar units at 50 percent contribution by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 50 percent by the beneficiaries. The overall estimated cost of the project is around Rs35 billion. Under the project, some 100,000 houses of settled districts and 30,000 houses of merged districts will be converted to solar energy.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that the provincial government was making huge investments in the energy sector aimed at ensuring availability of loadshedding-free electricity to citizens alongside enhancing the revenue for the province. He added that, in the solarization process, those areas would be prioritised where loadshedding and losses are comparatively high. The chief minister said that provision of solar units would alleviate the heavy burden of electricity bills on citizens and ensure power supply without loadshedding. He added that the solarisation of government buildings would result in significant savings on account of electricity bills.

“This year’s budget has been named as Green Budget, newly initiated solarization schemes are of national importance, and their implementation would reduce the burden on the national grid as well,” he added.