By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: Work on the rehabilitation of power channel of the 108-mega watt hydro power station of WAPDA in Golen was abandoned on Thursday which had been hit by the glacial flood on 13th July leading to its shut down.
Work had already been stopped on the restoration of 4-kms road between Booni Road and the intake point of the power channel inside the valley including two bridges over the stream by the organization (WAPDA) which were part of the power project.
Sources in WAPDA told Chitral Times that the stoppage of work was due to the delay in the issuance of the administrative approval of the competent authority to carry out the restoration work of the power channel structure, the road and the bridges while work on it had been started earlier on the insistence of local administration and the local people.
The sources said that contract of the work had been awarded to a contractor who had restored two of the four bridges and one kilometer road while in the intake point of the power channel, removal of about one-quarter of the flood debris from the tank had completed.
They said that without proper approval by the competent authority, the work cannot be carried on and it would create problems in making of payment to the contractor which was why the work had been stopped.
Meanwhile, the local residents have decried the inordinate delay in the restoration of road as the valley is still closed for vehicular traffic and more than four hundred households are disconnected from the rest of the district.
Abdul Ghafar, the chairman of Koh local support organization, said that the first kilometer of the valley road was maintained by WAPDA as part of the power project while the stoppage of work on the restoration work has bewildered the residents who are already facing tough situation after the flood.
He said that the commodities of daily have started to run short in the upstream of the valley while patients and injured cannot be taken to the hospital.
A local engineer requesting not to be named said that the close- down of the 108-mega watt power station is inflicting a loss of about Rs. 25 million a day as it could generate 2.6 million units (kwh) of electricity in each 24 hours.
He said that the de-siltation tank in the intake point of the power channel had been filled by the flood debris whose clearance will lead to restarting the power station.
Chitral Lower DC Naveed Ahmed, when contacted, said that the project director of Golen Gol Power Project had given the timeline of 14th August to make the power house operational.
He said that a day ago, he had visited the valley where work on the clearance of debris was in progress but he was not aware of the stoppage of work on Thursday.
