Peshawar: Balakot Hydropower Project, the largest hydropower project of the province on Kunhar River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, will be started this year in District Mansehra with generation capacity of 300 MW. This project will be completed with the joint financial support of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and AIIB Bank.
Chief Executive PEDO Engineer Naeem Khan expressed the views in an emergency meeting held at Balakot site with the team members of the Chinese construction company Gazoba and the Turkish consultant company Dolsar working on the project. Deputy Commissioner Mansehra and project director of the project and other responsible officials were also present in the meeting.
In the meeting, satisfaction was expressed on the progress made on the acquisition of land for the project, while the detailed design work of the project has also been successfully completed within the stipulated time period, after which the practical work on the project will be started.
During the meeting, important decisions were also made for the start of practical work on the project by completing the security of foreign engineer teams of Chinese and Turkish companies working on the project on a priority basis.
CEO Engineer Naeem Khan said that this project is a flagship project of the current provincial government, which will be completed in the next 7 years with an amount of 755 million dollars, in which 80% of the amount, i.e. 580 million $ will be provided by the Asian Development Bank with the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank together and the remaining amount will be provided by the provincial government from her own resources.
The completion of the project will bring an annual income of Rs. 15 billion to the province and will provide employment to around 1400 people. He expressed that the present provincial government’s major achievement in starting the biggest energy project of the province and said that the said project will prove to be a game changer to stabilize the economy of the province, end the energy crisis and create employment opportunities.
