Private firm to lay power transmission lines

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has signed an agreement with a private sector company to establish its own power transmission lines.

A formal ceremony in this regard was held at the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar where officials from Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) and the private company M/S Netracon Technologies signed the agreement in the presence of the chief minister.

Under this agreement, 40-kilometer-long 132/220 KV transmission lines will be laid from Matiltan to Madian, which will be completed in one and half year at an estimated cost of Rs 8 billion.
This transmission line will help the evacuation of electricity generated by the 84 MW Matiltan hydropower project and other provincial government projects in Swat to the national grid or supply it at discounted rates to local industries. The project on completion is expected to generate approximately Rs7 billion annually for the provincial government.
The transmission line is the phase-1 of the integrated study plan of the Swat Corridor Transmission Line project. Under the Phase-II of this project, an additional 80-kilometer line will be laid from Madian to Chakdara. Currently, several hydropower projects with generating capacity of hundreds of megawatts are underway in Swat Corridor.
Addressing the ceremony, Chief Minister Gandapur the power transmission line was one of the provincial government’s flagship projects and a significant achievement. He said the completion of the project would bring about a revolution in the energy and industrial sectors of the province.