Plan prepared for generating 2,000 megawatts of electricity: Hoti

Chief Minister, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Ameer Haider Khan, said that the provincial government has prepared an action plan for generating 2,000 mega watt electricity, besides meeting supply and demand, to generate financial resource also for the province.
Addressing oath-taking ceremony of the Khyber Union of Journalists (KhUJ) and Peshawar Press Club (PPC) here on Tuesday in Chief Minister's House, he said that work on Matalitan and Lawi projects will be started shortly. Those present on the occasion included Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussein and Secretary Information Azmat Hani Orakzai while a large number of journalists attended the ceremony.
He said that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has huge natural resources, but these were not explored. He said that due to outdated mechanism of exploration instead of benefits, natural resources are being destroyed. He said that for establishing access to such areas they are constructing roads and providing modern equipment to minimise the loss. The Chief Minister said that beside it, the province also has potential in tourism, agriculture and water sectors and their utilisation could bring unprecedented increase in the revenue of the province.
He said despite difficulties and challenges the province also offered huge opportunities. He added further that during last two years, the province has received additional resources in head of National Finance Commission (NFC) and net-profit on hydro-power generation. He said that the oil and gas sector of the province is also registering growth, saying during first year of the present government they received an amount of Rs 300 million to Rs 350 million and this year they will receive Rs 17 billion and consecutive increase is being made in it. However, he said that they will not limit themselves to only this and will utilise the resources to increase income of the province.
The Chief Minister said that business management is the responsibility of private sector and of government and will establish Oil and Gas Development Company on the basis of Public-Private Partnership (PPP). He said that they are in touch with the Federal Government for the establishment of at least one oil refinery in any of the southern districts of the province.
He said that for bringing increase in the proportion of hydro and other resources of power and maintaining consistency in the policies, they consulted all political parties to incorporate their proposals. He said that work on the short-term projects will be started soon. The Chief Minister said that the two self-employment schemes of Bacha Khan Khpal Rozgar Scheme and Hunarmand Rozgar Scheme, initiated by the provincial government, are transparent and clean from any political interference and ratio of the return is 99.5 percent.