Supply of electricity to most areas of KP restored: power minister

PESHAWAR: Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan on Thursday said that electricity had been restored to almost all flood-hit areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He was speaking at a news conference at Wapda house after presiding over a high-level meeting regarding damages to electricity infrastructure, including grid stations, feeders, transmission lines and poles, besides rehabilitation and reconstruction operations of the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (PESCO) and Tribal Electricity Supply Company (TESCO) in the flood-hit areas of KP.

The minister said that except some flood-hit areas of Swat and Bajaur, electricity had been restored in all districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for which PESCO and TESCO authorities and field staff deserved appreciation.

He directed PESCO and TESCO authorities to restore electricity in the remaining flood-affected areas of upper Swat and Bajaur at the earliest.

The Minister said that Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Power, Alamzaib had been deployed to oversee and monitor electricity’s restoration and reconstruction works in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and would report on a daily basis to the Ministry about resolution of electricity related issues in flood hit areas of the province.

Out of nine closed grid stations, he said, electricity on six grid stations had been restored. Similarly, out of 126 affected feeders, 121 feeders were restored in the province, adding basic electricity infrastructure including feeders and grid stations were functional in KP despite devastating floods in Rivers Kabul and Swat.

The Federal Minister who dashed to Peshawar to oversee flood damages on the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that destroyed electricity poles and transmission lines would be reconstructed on priority basis. He directed PESCO and TESCO authorities to expedite work on the affected poles and transmission lines in flood hit areas of KP.

The Minister said the flood had badly affected electricity infrastructure in upper areas of Swat including Matta, Madain and Bahrain besides some areas of Bajaur and directed PESCO and TESCO chiefs to restore the electricity system in these areas on priority basis to provide relief to the affected population.

He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced Rs10 billion financial aid for flood victims of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to provide relief to the affected population. To a question, he said that a national policy would be prepared for provision of relief to flood victims in electricity bills. Besides KP, he said floods had also caused havoc in Sindh, Balochistan and southern Punjab.

Khurram Dastagir said the electricity system in all flood hit areas of Nowshera and Charasadda had been restored and no damage had been done to any grid station in Nowshera due to effective planning of the PESCO.

He directed Joint Secretary Alamzaib to closely coordinate with PESCO and TESCO to address the problem of electricity poles within a week and report to the ministry about progress on its restoration on a daily basis.

Khurram Dastagir said that a comprehensive strategy was being prepared to control electricity losses and enhance recovery.

Earlier, the Minister presided over a high-level meeting attended by CEOs of PESCO and TESCO besides others senior officers. The Minister was informed that electricity had been restored in all flood hit areas of KP except some areas of upper Swat and Bajaur due to destruction of roads infrastructure by the floods.

Similarly, work on affected electricity transmission lines, poles, transformers and feeders in flood hit Nowshera and Charsadda was underway, and no grid station was damaged by floods in Nowshera due to pre-emptive measures by the PESCO authority.

The meeting was attended by CEO PESCO Abdul Jabbar Khan, TESCO Chief Tahir Khan, Joint Secretary Ministry of Power, Alamzaib and a woman MPA from Dir district and other senior officials of Wapda.

The Minister while expressing satisfaction over the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts of PECSO and TESCO directed its officials to further expedite work in flood hit areas including Swat and Bajaur. He said the government would continue the effort till rehabilitation and resettlement of the last affected person.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022