By Fazal Khaliq
CHITRAL: Chitral town residents finally ended their longstanding wait for reliable electricity and saw their appliances run at normal speed when electricity started flowing from the two-megawatt micro hydro power station funded by the European Union.
The micro hydro power station was built by SRSP under the EU-PEACE programme at Birmogh valley, some 27 kilometers away from Chitral town.
European Union ambassador, Jean Francois Cautain along with KP Sports Minister Mehmood Khan and National Assembly member Shahzada Iftikhar Uddin inaugurated the power project on May 12, 2017 bringing smiles on the faces of the local people.
“I am happy that European Union is contributing in the development of the rural areas of Pakistan by bringing energy. We are financially supporting SRSP to setup number of hydro power units throughout KP wherever water resources are available,” said Jean Francois Cautain after inaugurating the MHP.
He said that the project of two megawatt would provide clean energy supply to as many as 25000 households in Chitral town. “The energy will deliver positive impacts on the communities in their daily lives as well as flourish the economy of Chitral and help strengthen the education secter here,” he added.
Earlier there were two sources of electricity to the Chitral town, the 700 KW micro hydro power station covering small portion of the town, and the other from the national grid with very low voltage and frequent disconnection. “Earlier the voltage of our electricity was so low that it never ran our fans, washing machines, refrigerators, and even did not illuminate the bulbs fully. We had only symbolic electricity,” said Noor Mohammad, a local resident of Chitral.
Skilled workers and artisans in Chitral town would use generators to carry out their activities for which they spent huge amount, and ultimately, they charged their customers high prices for their services.
However, the scene is different after the MHP started supplying electricity to the town as people now enjoy using their electric appliances normally.
“For the first time in our lives we saw our fans run faster, our women can use washing machines to wash clothes, use refrigerators to keep food items fresh and our children study in the evening. It really changed our lives as we can even watch televisions,” said Muhammad Farooq a resident of Chitral town.
Similarly, residents of Ayoun town are also grateful to European Union for establishing a 700-kW micro hydro power station enabling them to use full voltage electricity as previously many people of various communities in Ayoun were untouched by the blessings of electricity.
KP Sports Minister Mehmood Khan and member National Assembly Shahzada Iftikhar Uddin thanked European Union and SRSP for carrying out developmental project in the remote areas of KP.
Construction works on both the MHPs started in April 2016 and were completed in December 2016.
Residents of Ayoun and Chitral town said before the establishment of the two MHPs they lived in dark period and felt detached from the rest of the world but thanks to EU and SRSP for enabling them to have access to electricity for using basic amenities and felt that they were connected with the rest of the world.
The EU has provided four billion rupees to cover 165 micro hydro power units along with community infrastructure facilities in Malakand Division.
