CM directs completion of PEDO projects
PESHAWAR (APP): In order to make the province self-sufficient in hydel power generation, Caretaker Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Justice (R) Syed Arshad Hussain Shah has directed the concerned authorities to finalize an aggressive plan with the purpose to complete the ongoing hydropower projects under Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development organization on fast track.
He directed to initiate new feasible projects in the province and work day and night for this purpose so that maximum hydropower can be generated in minimum possible time.
He has directed the authorities concerned to immediately appoint the Chief Executive Officer of newly established “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Grid and Transmission Company” so as to make it fully functional without any delay. Moreover, he ordered to accelerate pace of work on the execution of already approved plan of PEDO for hydel power generation, adding that significant progress should be made to increase power generation in the next few months.
He was presiding over 14th meeting of the PEDO Policy Board held here at Chief Minister’s House. Caretaker provincial minister for ST&IT Dr. Najeeb Ullah, advisor to Chief Minister on Energy and Power Syed Sarfaraz Ali Shah, Additional Chief Secretary P&D Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah, Secretary Energy and Power Nisar Ahmed, CEO PEDO Engineer Naeem Khan and other members of the Policy Board attended the meeting.
Addressing the participants, the chief minister said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been blessed with abundant water resources; and a comprehensive strategy with fast track implementation plan is required to make this province self-sufficient in power generation by utilizing those resources to the maximum.
“We can not only provide affordable and environment-friendly electricity to our people but we can also create tremendous employment opportunities for them by providing additional electricity to local industries at relatively cheaper rates”, he said and added that the caretaker provincial government was fully committed to complete the public welfare projects on time; and sincere efforts would be made to this effect.
The meeting was briefed about newly prepared draft of “Service Regulations” for CEO PEDO and Executive Committee’s members and decided that a committee headed by Advisor for Energy and Power will further scrutinize the draft and submit it for final approval within the next two weeks.
Concerned authorities were also directed on the occasion to formulate financial rules for PEDO as soon as possible. The participants were apprised of various aspects of wheeling model for providing electricity to local industries. The Chief Minister said that wheeling model was of vital importance for providing uninterrupted electricity to industries on cheaper rates and directed the quarters concerned to speed up work on extending this facility to other industrial units in the province. Issue of Net Hydel Profit and other various matters related to federation were also discussed in the meeting.
