KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has directed for immediate hiring of consultants for initiation of work on Solarization of 800 water supply schemes to be carried out under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The total estimated cost of the project is Rs6.84 billion which will ensure saving of approximately Rs800 million annually in bills and Rs90 million in Operation and Maintenance costs along with benefiting 2.4 million people.
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 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 Rs600 million per annum along with saving of 18 Mega Watt electricity in 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.
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 representing 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 DI Khan Motorway project is also being carried out.
The Chief Minister was informed that the project regarding solariation of 800 existing water supply schemes has been included under CPEC Socio-Economic grant. Revised PC-1 at estimated cost of Rs695.406 million for local component as non-ADP scheme has also been approved while hiring of consultants for the project is underway.
The Chief Minister emphasised the need to expedite the progress on the project stating that provision of clean drinking water to people of the province is the priority of incumbent government whereas the initiatives will not only save billions of rupees, but will provide easy access to clean drinking water.
The Chief Minister also called for a separate presentation on the new and ongoing mega schemes being initiated by Public Health Engineering Department saying that the government was spending considerable resources for providing clean drinking water to the people of the province.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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