Caretaker CM for early completion of power projects
PESHAWAR: Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan on Saturday stressed the need to increase power generation in KP and said completion of ongoing projects would not only add electricity to the national grid but also help increasing the revenue of the province.
He was chairing the 13th policy board meeting of Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO).
The chief minister was presented the annual report of PEDO for the year 2022-23. He expressed satisfaction over PEDO performance and expressed the hope that it would ensure timely completion of energy generation projects.
The meeting also approved the current budget estimate of PEDO for 2023-24 and revised budget for 2022-23. The meeting was told that revenue of Rs47 billion had been generated by energy projects of PEDO and seven hydro-power projects of 162 MW had been competed under. Moreover, five power generating projects are in final stages of completion.
The meeting was informed that work was in progress on 13.5 MW Chappari Charkhel project and 6.9 MW Mujahideen hydro-power projects. Work has also been started on 300 MW Balakot hydro-power project with financial assistance of Asian Development Bank. Work would soon start on 88 MW Gabral Kalam project and 157 MW Madayn project.
The meeting was told that Civil Secretariat, CM House and CM secretariat have been converted to solar power while 8,000 schools, 187 Basic Health Units and 4000 mosques have also been converted to solar power. PEDO has also converted 300 mosques in merged districts to solar power. Besides, 356 mini-micro power projects were completed in Phase I while work was underway on 291 power projects under Phase II.