MANSEHRA: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA Sardar Mohammad Yusuf on Friday said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would soon inaugurate the Suki Kinari hydropower project on the Kunhar River in Kaghan Valley.

“The prime minister has accepted our invitation to visit Balakot to inaugurate the Suki Kinari power project and the offices of the newly-created Hazara Electric Supply Company,” the lawmaker told reporters here.

Mr Yusuf said that he led a PML-N delegation from Mansehra in a meeting with PM Shehbaz Sharif and invited him to the area.

He said the 880-megawatt Suki Kinari project was the first energy project completed underthe China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Initiative in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Hazesco offices will also be opened during visit

The MNA said the first phase of the energy project had already started production.

He said the prime minister also promised the inauguration of the Rs19 billion gravity water supply scheme in Mansehra.

“On the prime minister’s orders, power secretary Dr Fakhr-i-Alam met with him and other delegates and discussed modalities to provide free electricity to Balakot and other parts of the district and establish schools, health facilities and other welfare projects,” he said.

The lawmaker said that the power company’s establishment would create thousands of employment opportunities.

Mr Yusuf said the federal government had also planned three more hydropower projects on the Kunhar in Balakot.

BLACKLISTED: The Kaghan Development Authority on Friday blacklisted 66 river rafting operators in Dumdum area of Naran Valley for three years due to non-compliance with standard operational procedures.

They operated in the Dumdum area of Naran Valley, according to KDA in a statement.

It added that many times in the past, too, raft operators got notices for following SOPs to ensure the safety of tourists, but to no avail.

PANEL FORMED: Chairman of the Balakot tehsil councilSyed Ibrahim Ahmad on Friday constituted a 15-member committee to take up with federal authorities the residents’ demand of free electricity and complaints about environmental impacts caused by the hydropower projects.

Chairman of the Garlat neighbourhood council Mohammad Maroof will head the coordination committee, while village and neighbourhood council chairmen will be its members, according to a notification.

It added that the committee was formed in the “large public interest” with the federal and provincial governments through the relevant departments and the commissioner of Hazara Division being updated about it.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2024