‘Skardu power needs to be met by 2014’
G-B government will finish work on a 26 megawatts power project in Skardu this year.
GILGIT:
The Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government will finish work on a 26 megawatts power project in Skardu this year. The Shigarthang Hydropower Plant is one of the 17 power projects being undertaken in Skardu.
The duration of blackouts in the region has extended to as much as 20 hours a day. To make things worse, temperatures drop to as low as -18 degrees Celsius in Skardu during December and January.
Gilgit, the provincial capital, is also not immune to these extended blackouts, suffering from up to 18 hours of blackouts in a day between November and April.
“The cost of the Shigarthang project is Rs3.357 billion, of which 80 per cent will be borne by the Asian Development Bank,” said Ghulam Haider, the Power Division’s Executive Engineer in Skardu.
The power plant will be installed on the right bank of Kachura Lungma, about 50 km from Skardu.
Another official said another power project at Shigar had been completed at a cost of Rs80.20 million and that it will start supply of power this year. The official added that the Rs180 million Talu Hydel Project will be completed by 2012 and will supply 2 megawatts to Skardu.
Asked if and when these projects would end power outages in Skardu, the official said that by 2014 Skardu will be free of blackouts.
He said that the power demand in Skardu increases by 500 kilowatts every year. With a population of about 350,000 people, Skardu is the second-largest town in Gilgit-Baltistan after Gilgit, but is much colder.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 21st, 2011.
The Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government will finish work on a 26 megawatts power project in Skardu this year. The Shigarthang Hydropower Plant is one of the 17 power projects being undertaken in Skardu.
The duration of blackouts in the region has extended to as much as 20 hours a day. To make things worse, temperatures drop to as low as -18 degrees Celsius in Skardu during December and January.
Gilgit, the provincial capital, is also not immune to these extended blackouts, suffering from up to 18 hours of blackouts in a day between November and April.
“The cost of the Shigarthang project is Rs3.357 billion, of which 80 per cent will be borne by the Asian Development Bank,” said Ghulam Haider, the Power Division’s Executive Engineer in Skardu.
The power plant will be installed on the right bank of Kachura Lungma, about 50 km from Skardu.
Another official said another power project at Shigar had been completed at a cost of Rs80.20 million and that it will start supply of power this year. The official added that the Rs180 million Talu Hydel Project will be completed by 2012 and will supply 2 megawatts to Skardu.
Asked if and when these projects would end power outages in Skardu, the official said that by 2014 Skardu will be free of blackouts.
He said that the power demand in Skardu increases by 500 kilowatts every year. With a population of about 350,000 people, Skardu is the second-largest town in Gilgit-Baltistan after Gilgit, but is much colder.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 21st, 2011.