Staff Reporter
Peshawar
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mehmood Khan has directed the immediate completion of all arrangements, including hiring of consultants, for initiation of work on Solarization of 800 water supply schemes to be included in CPEC projects. The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 6.84 billion which will ensure saving of approximately Rs 800 million annually in bills and Rs. 90 million in Operation and Maintenance costs along with benefitting 2.4 million people.
The Chief Minister stated that ultimate goal of the initiative is to improve the quality of life and health of people through provision of clean drinking water within affordable costs on sustainable basis adding that Public Health Engineering department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had already initiated solarization projects with successful results under which 600 schemes have been solarized so far. Total saving from these schemes in terms of electricity bills is Rs.600 million per annum along with saving of 18 Mega Watt electricity to the national grid.
The Chief Minister further directed to accelerate progress on 260 MW Jamshil Torren More Project Chitral, 350 Mega Watt Torren More Kare Project Chitral, project regarding off-grid solutions for merged districts, Swat Motorway Phase II and other proposed projects in CPEC. He was presiding over a meeting regarding CPEC projects of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at CM Secretariat Peshawar. Advisor to the Chief Minister for Energy and Power Hamayatullah Khan, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Shahab Ali Shah, Administrative Secretaries of the concerned departments and other senior officials attended the meeting.
The meeting was informed that the inclusion of 260 MW Jamshil Torren More Project Chitral and 350 Mega Watt Torren More Kare Project Chitral in CPEC has been agreed upon in principal during the previous meeting of the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of CPEC in which it was agreed that the projects would be evaluated by panel of experts representative of both sides. The meeting was informed that Swat Motorway Phase II project has already been approved by PSDP while its inclusion in CPEC was also principally agreed in the previous JCC meeting. Furthermore, the technical survey of Peshawar to D.I.Khan Motorway project is also being carried out.
The Chief Minister was informed that the project regarding solarization of 800 existing water supply schemes has been included under CPEC Socio-Economic grant. Revised PC-1 at estimated cost of Rs.695.406 million for local component as non-ADP scheme has also been approved while hiring of consultants for the project is underway.
