WAPDA, Civil Administration of Hazara Division and United Kohistan Jirga, comprising notables of three Districts namely Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai Palas Kohistan, reached an agreement today. The agreement is aimed at implementing a number of development schemes by WAPDA in the three districts for socio-economic uplift of the local populace. Most importantly, this agreement will pave the way for smooth execution/completion of long-delayed 132 KV transmission line from Duber Hydel Power Station to Dasu, direly needed for stable supply of electricity during peak construction period of Dasu Hydropower Project. In lieu of the development schemes by WAPDA, locals of the three districts will not create hindrances in the way to construction of the transmission line, ensuring its smooth execution.
The agreement was signed in a ceremony attended by Advisor to the Prime Minister Engineer Amir Muqam, Chairman WAPDA Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani (Retd), Commissioner Hazara Division Mutaher Zeb, notables from Kohistan region and senior officers of WAPDA.
According to the agreement, WAPDA will implement score of schemes as Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in consultation and with support of the civil administrations and the locals. WAPDA will construct three hydel power stations of at least three megawatt including transmission/distribution line in three districts of Kohistan. WAPDA will also construct one high school and one vocational training centre in each of three districts, besides re-constructing high school in Seo, Upper Kohistan. Likewise, payment of electricity arrears payable by the local domestic consumers up to December 2022 to PESCO, provision of Class-4 jobs to the locals, preference to the locals in other jobs, compensation to the affectees of Duber Khwar transmission line in Pattan seri and Palas seri and house-hold package for the affectees of Keyal Khwar and Dasu Hydropower Project are amongst the salient features of the agreement. In return, the notables will ensure immediate resumption of construction work on Duber-Dasu transmission line. The notables of Districts Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai Palas Kohistan will also ensure smooth execution of the said transmission line till its completion.
It is worth mentioning that WAPDA is constructing the 4320 MW Dasu Hydropower Project at River Indus in Upper Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The project is being completed in two stages. At present, WAPDA is constructing stage-I with installed generation capacity of 2160 MW and annual energy generation of 12 billion units of low-cost and environment-friendly electricity. The stage-II, when implemented, will also provide 9 billion units to the National Grid. On completion of the both Stages, Dasu will become the project with highest annual energy generation in Pakistan i.e., 21 billion units on the average.