Abid Sher Ali says KP govt hurdle to power projects

Vows to end loadsheding by 2018

PESHAWAR: Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali on Thursday blamed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for non-cooperation in land acquisition for power and transmission projects to eliminate loadshedding and power fluctuation problems.

Addressing a press conference at the Wapda House here after his meeting with the representatives of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI), Abid Sher Ali held the provincial government responsible for most of the woes of the people in the province due to its non-cooperative behaviour.

The minister also reiterated the commitment of prime minister to eliminate loadshedding in the country in 2018. “I assure you that loadshedding would be eliminated by March 2018 as committed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,” he said.

Referring to the allegation of the chief minister, the minister of state said Pervez Khattak had said that the federal government was not cooperating with the provincial government in its projects, which was not correct.

The minister said that it was the federal government that resolved the 60-year old dispute of net hydel profit (NHP) arrear and decided to pay the amount of around Rs70 billion to the province in four installments.

“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) does not want to resolve the issue of load-shedding as it was not cooperating with the federal government to initiate various power projects in the province,” he alleged.

He said the federal government could not succeed in elimination of the loadshedding in the province as well as the country due to the non-cooperation of the PTI-led coalition government.

The state minister for water and power informed that the federal government wanted to construct a 220 KVA grid station in Nowshera for which funding was available, but the provincial government could not acquire land for the project during the last two years.

“Federal Minister Khwaja Asif met chief minister who repeatedly promised to acquire the land for the gridstation and funds for the same have also been transferred to their account, but they have not yet acquired the required the land,” Abid Sher Ali further said.

Similarly, he said, the federal government wanted to build the gird station in Chakdara, and they have transferred Rs540 million to the account of the provincial government two and a half years ago for land acquisition, but the provincial government could not acquire the land.

To a question, the minister said that after 18th Amendment the provinces got autonomy to develop and run their own power projects and all provinces were doing the same, but Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was making lame excuses.

He said that CASA-1000, which would also provide 1300MW to the country, was also getting delayed due to the provincial government’s slackness to acquire land for the project.

However, the federal government is going to initiate many projects in the province under “chain augmentation”. Two projects of around $90 million have been approved in Kohat and Peshawar to improve transmission for future power supply.

The minister said the federal government had kept its doors open for provinces to help them in initiating mega projects, but Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was not taking advantage of this opportunity.