Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB) will provide electricity to about 400 villages through renewable energy costing Rs 14 million. The villages, which were 20 kilometres off from the national grid, would be provided electricity through solar cells.
But windmills or micro-hydel would also be installed in some villages on the Prime Minister's directive, official sources told Business Recorder on Tuesday.
Under the scheme, three hundred villages of Balochistan and one hundred villages of Sindh would only pay Rs 250, which is minimum cost of lighting by kerosene and rest would be bore by the government, they said. The amount, each household will have to deposit with the management of the community organisation for looking after and maintenance of the solar cells, they added.
The Board had floated an idea for electrifying 7600 villages but the government has approved initially 400 villages of Sindh and Balochistan by allocating funds from PSDP. Had Wapda executed this project, it would need Rs one billion but the AEDB will complete the project spending much lower cost in two and half year, sources added.
The AEDB is already executing one village in each province through renewable sources. To a question about availability of equipment, they said that some of them like solar panels and inventors would be imported while the rest would be made locally.
When asked about the scope of project, they said that the AEDB is working to make it popular at community level only focussing those areas, where other sources of energy are too costly. Wapda has identified nearly 40,000 villages in country with estimated budget of Rs 18 billion for electrification.
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