74MWs being added to national grid: CM

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan said on Friday that for the first time in the past nine years 74 megawatt electricity being generated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be added to the national grid.

An official handout said he was chairing a meeting to review the performance of the energy and power sectors.

Mahmood Khan said the 74 megawatt electricity would help generate revenue of Rs2 billion for the province every year.

He said that previously the province generated electricity from different hydel power projects (HPPs) but it was not being transferred to the national grid and resulted in significant losses to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa exchequer.

The chief minister stated that 270 mini-micro-hydel power projects have been completed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said the government was considering constructing an additional 672 such schemes throughout the province.

The meeting was briefed on the projects to be completed by 2025 and would be added to the national grid.

The electricity to be added to the national grid is being generated from Daral Khwar Hydro Power Project in Swat, Ranolia HPP in Kohistan, Pehur Power Project in Swabi and Machai Canal in Mardan, producing 36, 17, 18 and 2.6 megawatts, respectively.

The meeting was told that the Machai Canal, Daral Khwar and Ranolia power projects would be connected with the national grid

and later an agreement will be signed within a month with the federal government.

The Pehur Power project has already been connected with the national grid.

The public sector projects including 10.2 megawatt Jabori power station in Mansehra, 12 megawatt Karora power project in Shangla and 40.8 megawatt Koto power project in Lower Dir are scheduled to be completed by June 2020.

These projects would generate 62.2 megawatt of electricity and contribute significantly to the provincial exchequer after being transferred to the national grid.

The public sector projects including 300 megawatt Balakot HPP, 88 megawatt Gabral in Kalam HPP, 22 megawatt Patrak Shringal HPP in Upper Dir and 47 megawatt Barikot Patrak HPP in Upper Dir will be completed by 2024-2025 and would produce a total of 457 megawatt electricity.

Additionally, public sector projects including 96 megawatt Batakundi HPP, 72 megawatt Istaro Buni HPP, 21 megawatt Ghorband HPP and 12 megawatt Nandihar HPP would be completed by the year 2024 to produce a total of 201 megawatt electricity. Besides, 84 megawatt Mataltan power project in Swat and 69 megawatt Lawi Chitral power projects would be completed by 2022-23.

In the private sector, the chief minister was informed that work on eight HPPs would be initiated in 2020-22 and would generate 656 megawatt electricity. The work on another 24 HPPs would be initiated by the private sector in 2022-23 for producing 537 megawatt electricity.