PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Mahmood Khan has called for utilising the province’s abundant resources of hydropower generation for reviving economic and development activities in KP.
“The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government is going all out to give the common man relief in all social sectors”, he said.
He was presiding over a high-level meeting which was attended by Federal Minister for Energy Umer Ayub, Provincial Minister Akbar Ayub, Advisor to CM on Energy Himayat Ullah, Energy Secretary, Principal Secretary to the CM, Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (PESCO) chief and others at the Chief Minister House here on Saturday.
The meeting focused on infrastructure development, underutilisation of the existing system, wheeling of electricity, nomination of board members through consultation with the provincial government, the six month window available to PESCO for upgrading the system, connectivity of already available electricity to the national grid, overbilling, shift in policy for the consumption of electricity produced in local areas for domestic and industrial consumption, and the project of converting waste to energy.
The meeting agreed to settle all issues at the federal level.
The KP CM asked Umer Ayub to work out a mechanism that could facilitate the provision of already available power to be used by the province both for the purpose of domestic use, industrial growth, trade as well as commercial activities at local level.
He said that the Malakand-III project and others similar projects could be run on the same lines. Locally produced electricity could be extended to Malakand and other areas where the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) could not lay down transmission lines to connect power stations to the national grid. “The priority should be for the provision of locally produced electricity for consumption at the local level,” he added.
The chief minister said that he had discussed the issues of the province with the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan with a focus on providing relief to the people and upgrading the infrastructure and system of electricity.
“The province has the capacity to generate electricity beyond the required amount for not just KP but the whole country,” he said.
He further said that his government wanted stability and consistency at the rural level. He also talked about the federal government’s plan for Basha Dam, Dasu Dam, Swat, Chitral and Hazara and the interconnectivity of the whole system.
