Prime Minister inaugurates Hydropower project at Bisham

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Saturday inaugurated the seventy-two megawatt Khan Khwar Hydropower project at Bisham in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).

The premier while addressing the inaugural ceremony said the government was focusing on hydropower generation projects to produce inexpensive and environment friendly power, adding that this project will add 72 megawatt of electricity to the system.

PM Ashraf observed, “The demand of power is increasing 8 to 10 percent annually and we will have to meet this challenge to plug the demand and supply gap”.

He was of the opinion that investors left the country due to undue criticism on Independent Power Producers (IPPs). He continued that power crisis would have worsened if IPPs were not put in place.

The premier also stated work on Thar Coal project has started he would soon pay a visit to the site. Replying to a query about corruption cases against his party leadership, he said that ex National Accountability (NAB) Chairman Saifur Rehman jailed several investors.

He pledged that he would not respond criticism as sloganeering didn’t work, adding that country’s interests should not be put on stake for the sake of vested interests.

Earlier, the newly elected prime minister was briefed about the salient features of the project which has started power generation on an experimental basis from last week.

It is vital to mention here that the project will cost about Rs 11 billion to be constructed on the Khan Khwar right bank tributary of Indus River in District Shangla.

According to the reports, the key components of the project include a forty-six meters high and 112 meters long dam‚ about five kilometers long tunnel‚ a power house and a switchyard.

The project has been connected with the national grid through 132 and 220 kilovolts transmission line constructed for three high-head hydropower projects.

Khan Khwar Hydropower project is a part of energy generation plan of Water and Power Development Authority that is being executed on priority basis to meet the growing demand of electricity in the country.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jul 14 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.