Adviser suspends Swat hydropower project director

PESHAWAR: Advisor to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Energy and Power Himayatullah Khan on Friday expressed displeasure over the slow pace of work on the 84 Megawatt Matiltan Hydropower Project in Swat and suspended its project director.

The energy adviser sought an inquiry report about causes of the delay in the project within seven days, said a communication, adding he issued these directives while visiting ongoing energy projects in the Swat district.

The adviser was accompanied by Secretary Power and Energy Muhammad Zubair Khan and Pedo Chief Executive Engineer Muhammad Naeem Khan.

During the inspection of the under-construction 84MW Matilan Project, the adviser found that the project director had failed to implement directives given to him four months ago.

The adviser was briefed about these projects and was informed that work on the 88 MW Gabral Kalam Project would soon be launched with the financial assistance of the World Bank.

Several meetings were held with the local population to acquire land for the project and senior officials had attended these meetings.

The Malakand commissioner assured that the land issue would soon be resolved and work would commence on the project soon.

He added that work on the construction of the Powerhouse Colony would be inaugurated at the earliest.

Later, Himyatullah visited the 0.9 Megawatt mini-micro hydel station. He said after the successful completion of the first phase of the project, work would be started on 672 MW mini micro hydel stations in the second phase.

The adviser paid a visit to the already completed 36MW Daral Khuar Power House.

He also visited solar plants which had been installed to provide round-the-clock power supply to the health centre in the Bandai and Dharai areas and expressed satisfaction with the scheme.

The adviser said the work was underway to solarize 8,000 schools, 4,400 mosques and 187 health centres in the province, adding the initiative would help save billions of rupees besides providing an inexpensive and smooth power supply.