By Our Correspondent
CHITRAL: Witnessing decades of darkness Chitralis, at last, started enjoying benefits of smooth and quality electricity after SRSP in collaboration with European Union established hydro-power stations in the valley.
Large parts of Chitral town which for almost a decade had electricity voltage incapable of charging a mobile or run a fridge have greatly benefitted from the 2 megawatt power house built at Istore in Golane Valley by SRSP( registered as a charity) under its PEACE Project.
In the last couple of months the power house has supplied 2.5 million units of electricity to the town through the PESCO power system in the town. This has benefitted 3,468 households or about 25,000 people directly in the town center, main bazaar and thirteen villages around it. It has also benefitted four villages on the outskirts of Chitral which lie on the way of the transmission lines.
In addition to the use at household levels, 1,400 commercial connections have been served bringing about dramatic change in the commercial activity in the town. Hotels show that that their electricity bills have fallen by more than three fourth because of the costs they had to pay for running generators in the past.
Similarly motor mechanics, ice cream machines, tailors and dry cleaners and small electrical shops have greatly benefitted. These figures do not include the change that has been witnessed in the three hospitals of the town where the absence of electricity had serious fall out for the blood bank, and the use of basic life-saving electronic equipment and the quality of life for the patients, and the poor quality of light during emergencies and operations.
Electricity is also being supplied to government degree college, commerce college, two technical colleges, ten student hostels and nine private colleges besides private clinics, laboratories and private schools.
Inhabitants of the town area where the electricity is supplied have greatly appreciated its quality which remains at full 220 voltage and has very few break downs. This effort is specially lauded because in the absence of an agreement with NEPRA and PESCO, SRSP has continued to supply the electricity without receiving any remuneration for the electricity it is providing. Simple calculations show that this is about Rs 30 millions of electricity.
Sadly while large parts of the town receive electricity from this power house, parts of it, where the 2 megawatts is not sufficient to reach, continue to receive poor quality and low voltage electricity from the national grid causing resentment.
Ayun Power House
Meanwhile electricity provision in the Union Councils of Broze has greatly improved because the 700 kilowatt hydel set up in Ayun village by SRSP under the PEACE Project has started supplying electricity to one part of Ayun valley giving electricity to 900 connections. This has eased the electricity load on the private entrepreneur who had been doing this for some years. Only 260 kilowatts of the 700 kilowatts of electricity which this power house can provide is being used at present.
In Upper Chitral over 100 kilowatts of electricity is being provided to Mastuj village from the 700 kilowatts power house established there by SRSP.
With the completion of correction work on the channel of the power house it is expected that the full capacity from this power house would be utilized too within the next ten days. An agreement will enable SRSP to provide this excess electricity to villages that have been without electricity for the last three years because of the breakdown of Reshun PEDO project in the last floods.
It is also expected that 500 kilowatts of electricity would be available to Booni town by the end of the month from another power house completed by SRSP at Booni. This will also be of great help to the government.
