PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has approved a mega project called ‘Access to Clean Energy’ to fully tap the rich energy potential of the province besides providing inexpensive and low-cost electricity to all domestic and industrial consumers.
Officials in KP Energy Department told APP on Wednesday that the gigantic project was divided into three sub-projects including construction of mini micro hydropower project on major canals, rivers and tributaries, and solarization of schools and basic health units in the province.
The govt of KP has identified 160 hydropower sites on major canals in all districts of the province and consultants were hired for its execution on the ground, the official said, adding that the project would be completed with an estimated cost of Rs330.51 million.
Likewise, the official said, as many as 512 hydropower sites on ‘rivers and tributaries’ were also identified for development of mini and micro hydropower projects in the province. To execute the project on rivers and tributaries, consultants were hired by the government to complete the project with an estimated cost of Rs8,495.1 million.
Thirdly, the government has approved solarization of schools and basic health units (BHUs) in KP, and about 8,000 schools which include 30 per cent girls’ schools and 187 BHUs would be solarised. The total cost of this project is Rs4,347 million and practical work would be started shortly.
All these projects were approved by the Provincial Working Development Party (PDWP) on November 2, 2017, and their tenders were floated to attract services of reputed firms.
The official said that the work on these projects would commence in a couple of weeks and necessary machinery for groundbreaking would soon be moved to the identified sites.
The completion of these projects would help make country self-sufficient in energy besides providing uninterrupted electricity to people of KP with its overall positive effects on tourism, trade, commerce and infant industries, he added.
