470 MW electricity will be generated from the Lower Spat Gah hydropower project: Zulfiqar Ali

Peshawar: Secretary Energy & Power, KP Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah, while declaring foreign investment as a milestone in the coming days for the development of the energy sector in the province, said that the natural resources of hydropower found in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are a valuable treasure here, which can not only be used to get the country out of the current energy crisis, but also energy projects will bring billions of rupees to the province annually.

He expressed these views in a meeting regarding progress of 470 MW Lower Spat Gah Hydropower project at Kohistan district that is being built with the cooperation of South Korean energy company and the KP government. An investor delegation of Koreans under the leadership of Joon Choi met with secretary power in his office, CEO PEDO Engr. Naeem Khan, Special Secretary Power Tashfeen Haider and the manager of Korean company Muhammad Suleman were also present in the meeting.

While giving a briefing in the meeting, it was said that under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, 470 megawatts of electricity will be generated from the Lower Spat Gah hydropower project with the cooperation of Korean company and the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the province will have an annual income of about Rs. 3 billion.

The project will be completed in 7 years at a cost of 1.031 million dollars, of which 20% of the equity, 26% will be paid by the KP government and the remaining cost will be paid by the Korean company. The Lower Spat Gah project is the largest hydropower project in the recent history of the province.

In the meeting, the problems faced with PPIB including IGCEP plan, NTDC and NEPRA at the federal level were discussed and plan of action regarding preparation as well as approval stages of PC-1 of the project also made.

Similarly, various options were also discussed to raise the obstacles in the issuance of generation license for the project and other issues with the federal government at the provincial level.

On this occasion, Provincial Secretary Power Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah and Chief Executive PEDO Engr. Naeem Khan assured the Korean investor delegation that they will do their best to bring out the problem by highlighting the issues facing in the province at a high level forum with the federation.