Dir’s Koto power plant nearing completion

Plant will help overcome electricity shortage in K-P

PESHAWAR:

The construction of the Koto Power Plant in Lower Dir district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has entered the final stages of completion.

After successful completion at the end of this year, the project will start producing 40.8 megawatts of cheap electricity, which will bring more than Rs2 billion to the provincial exchequer annually and create new employment opportunities in the province.

It will help overcome the energy crisis too in the province.

This was stated by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) Engr Naeem Khan during his surprise visit to the project site on Friday.

He was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Lower Dir Iftikhar Khan Marwat. He reviewed progress of work on the dam and various parts of the project.

About the ongoing construction work, Deputy Director Engineer Muqeemuddin said that due to security reasons, several workers of the team of Chinese engineers working on the project had left their work and went back to their home country, while during the Covid-19 emergency, it proved very difficult to bring machinery for the project as there was a global lockdown.

Due to these reasons, the project work was slightly delayed but they were trying their level best to catch up.

“After the security situation improved, now the Chinese staff is back and work has been once again in progress with full pace and the required heavy machinery had also been brought to the site,” he maintained, adding that there were some difficulties in acquiring land for the project and it was another cause of delay, on which Deputy Commissioner Iftikhar Khan assured the project officials that discussions were in progress with the local people regarding the purchase of land and payments to the landowners would be made soon.

Eng Naeem Khan, while expressing satisfaction over the pace of work on the project, directed the field staff that the pace of work on the project should be increased so that the people can benefit from the project soon.

It is worth mentioning here that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to restart construction work on the Lawi Hydropower Project in Chitral district that had been stopped due to some security and financial issues.

A financial package has also been announced and security issues have been resolved to ensure speedy work on the project.

Similarly, the World Bank (WB) will fund two hydropower projects of 245 megawatts in Swat this year, the completion of which will bring an annual income of more than Rs13 billion to the province.

The WB will lend money to the K-P government for this purpose.

In October last year, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of Secretary Energy and Power Nisar Ahmad Khan, with the project directors of WB regarding progress on both the projects.

The WB will fund the projects as part of the development energy sector including the 157 MW Madyan Hydropower Project and 88 MW Gabral Kalam Hydropower Project.

In this regard, a $450 million agreement has been signed between the WB and the provincial government.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2023.