Daily Times

Sir: About a year ago, I worked on a livelihood restoration project, which was funded by a non-government organisation, in Neelum district, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. We were working with a team on a plan to provide electricity within a very short time. We targeted six villages in that district for the provision of electricity. It was a hydropower project and we completed six projects within five months. About 72,000 people benefited from this project. Additionally, there was 30 percent participation from the community end in the total cost of this project. It was a landmark achievement for those people who had no electricity in their villages. They are enjoying electricity for 24 hours with a minimum fixed monthly charge of Rs100. This project is running without any electricity breakdown with the natural flow of water.

There are many potential areas where projects can be initiated with very minimum resources. The only thing we need is political will. According to an estimate, there is a capacity for 28,000 megawatts in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Although hydropower generation is the economic way of generating electricity, we have not been able to adopt this system. According to an estimate, 70 percent of Pakistan’s energy requirement can be met through hydropower. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government seems to be interested in this type of electricity generation as they are in the planning phase. They are aiming at generating 2,100 megawatts. According to another estimate, there is potential for generating 6,000 to 7,000 megawatts of electricity from hydropower projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
MALIK WASIM
Muzaffarabad