Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Power and Energy Department has said that over 250 mini-macro hydropower plants (MMHPPs) have started supplying power to the province.
An official of the Energy Department told the Associated Press Pakistan (APP) that a total of 312 MMHPPs have been completed across the province, while 16 are under construction.
He said that 268 power projects, including 47 in Chitral, 32 in Upper Dir, three in Lower Dir, 12 in Abbottabad, 50 in Batagram, 14 in Manshera, 15 in Buner, eight in Torghar, 36 in Swat, 23 in Shangla, and 28 in Kohistan, have started producing 32 MW electricity, which is enough to benefit over 120,000 households in the upper parts of the province.
The official added:
About Rs. 4 per unit electricity to domestic and Rs.7 per unit to commercial consumers is being provided from these projects besides provision of electricity connections to domestic, commercial users, mosques, schools and community centers in these districts.
The provincial government has decided to build 672 MMHPPs worth about Rs. 12 billion with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the Prime Minister’s Access to Clean Energy Investment Program (PM ACENIP).
The official said that the DaralKhwar hydropower project in Madain, Swat, has also been completed and that the project is generating 36.6 MW with an annual economic benefit of over Rs. 1.3 billion.
He added that the groundbreaking ceremony of another 300 MW Balakot hydropower plant is upcoming. The project has been approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) and will be built at an estimated cost of Rs. 85 billion on River Kunhar in Mansehra with the assistance of the ADB.
The official said:
About 10,000 MW projects are in different stages of implementation with a potential to generate about Rs. 100 billion annual revenue and efforts are on to utilize the remaining 14,000 MW through the construction of new hydropower projects. Three hydropower projects (HPPs) amounting to Rs. 177.244 billion including construction of 96 MW Batakundi amounting of Rs. 40 billion and 188MW Naran of Rs. 70 billion Mansehra would be developed with the collaboration of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Shangla. Feasibility study of 20.8MW Shangla HPP are completed and practical work would commence soon by PEDO.
The provincial government has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a South Korean company to construct a 496 MW Spat-Gah hydropower plant amounting to $1,015 million.
