Progress linked to continuity of democracy, says PM Abbasi

• PM says credit for ending gas and electricity load shedding goes to PML-N 

CHITRAL: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Sunday that progress in the country will continue if democracy is allowed to flourish uninterrupted.

The prime minister said this while addressing an inauguration ceremony of the Golen Gol Hydropower Project in Chitral, which will add 36 megawatts of electricity to the national grid.

Federal Minister for Water Resources Syed Javed Ali Shah, WAPDA Chairman Muzammil Hussain, senior officers of district administration and notables of the area were also present during the ceremony.

“Such projects were possible because you made the right choice of electing [the party of] Nawaz Sharif. Now it is in the hands of you people to again make the right choice and allow the progress to continue,” the prime minister told the ceremony attendees, referring to the upcoming general elections in July.

The prime minister said the PML-N government had allocated an unprecedented amount of resources for the development of the people of Chitral. He said the mega projects, including Lowari Tunnel, hydropower and road infrastructure projects were completed during the tenure of the current government.

PM Abbasi said the credit for ending gas and electricity load shedding in the country goes to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government and said various projects were introduced in those far-flung areas where previous governments were not able to.

Golen Gol Hydropower Project

The electricity to be generated from the first unit of the project is exclusively meant to cope with the needs of Chitral town and adjacent areas, said a PM Office statement.

In the wake of devastating floods of 2015 in Chitral, the federal government directed WAPDA to supply electricity generated from the first unit of the project to Chitral to meet the energy needs for socio-economic development of the backward areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

This quantum of electricity is three times more than the present requirements of Chitral, and will also cater the future demand of the electricity. The project has been constructed on Golen Gol — a tributary of River Mastuj — near Chitral.

The total installed generation capacity of the project is 108 MW with three generating units – each of them having a capacity of 36 MW. The first unit has been completed, while the second and the third unit would be commissioned in March and May 2018 respectively.

The project will provide 436 million units of electricity to the national grid every year. Benefits of the project have been estimated at Rs 3.7 billion per annum. The approved PC-I cost of the project amounts to Rs 29 billion.

In addition to WAPDA’s own sources, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Saudi Fund for Development, Kuwait Development Fund and OPEC Fund for International Development had also been providing financial assistance for completion of the project.