Federal Minister for Power Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan laid the foundation stone of the 500 kV Suki Kinari Transmission Line Tuesday. The inauguration ceremony was held at Malkandi near Balakot.
The 75-kilometre-long 500 kV double circuit transmission line is being laid by the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) at a cost of Rs18,704 million through which the power generation from the 884 MW Suki Kinari Hydropower Project will be fed into the national grid.
Addressing the event, the federal minister said that Suki Kinari Hydropower Project is being constructed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project for $2100 million. The project will generate about 3.129 billion kilowatts of electricity annually.
Dastagir said that the transmission line project would link to the national grid and would also provide clean and cheap energy to the people. He also commended the efforts of the engineering team which has started the transmission line project. “It is not an inauguration of the project but we have laid a foundation for the provision of cheap and clean hydel power to the masses,” he said.
The federal minister said that former prime minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif completed many important projects in Hazara Division, among which Hazara Motorway and Suki Kinari projects are the most prominent ones whereas the Hazara Electric Supply Company project is also under consideration for the future.
He said that wherever development occurred in Pakistan, Sharif's name is mentioned there.
“The development does not come from speeches but from practical actions. More than 6,000 people got employment from this project,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2022.
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