Center urged to initiate work on hydel power stations in KP

F.P. Report

TIMERGARA: Jamaat-i-Islami chief and senator Sirajul Haq said the center was failed to control power outage due to which industrial units were closed and foreign investors were reluctant to invest in Pakistan.

Speaking at a news conference here after visiting the ongoing Koto Hdel-power project along with other party lawmakers, the JI chief said the project would generate 40 mega watt of electricity that would also help reduce power shortage in Lower and Upper Dir. Earlier the JI chief along with MNA sahibzada Yaqub Khan, KP finance minister Muzafar Syed, MPAs Izaz ul Mulk Afkari, Saeed Gul, Lower dir nazim Muhammad Rasool Khan, tehsil nazims Riaz Muhammad, Imran ud Din and project director Sultan e Room visited different sites of the Koto hydel Power project. The JI team expressed satisfaction on pace and standard of work on the project. The team was informed that the project would be completed before March, 2018.

Siraj ul Haq said the rivers flowing in parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had the capacity to generate 40,000 MV of electricity but neither the federal government not its relevant departments were interested to start work on it. He said that due to energy shortage foreign investment in the country had declined tremendously. He said that several industries had been closed down due to frequent power outage in the country. He said the government should also consider Patrak in Upper Dir and Shago Kas in Lower Dir for construction of hydel power stations as both the sites were feasible for it. He demanded of the government to replace the decades-old transmission line in all districts of Malakand division.

The JI chief said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had installed solar panels in over 8000 government schools while work on solarization of 4000 mosques was in progress