PESHAWAR  -  The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa here Friday signed an agreement with a private sector company to establish its own power transmission line.

A ceremony to this effect was held at the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar. Officials from Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) and the private company M/S Netracon Technologies Ltd. signed the agreement in the presence of Chief Minister.  Addressing the ceremony, Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has termed this power transmission line project as of vital importance for the sustainable development of the province.

He stated that completion of the project would bring a revolution in the energy and industrial sectors of the province. It would also enable provincial government to provide cheap electricity to local industries and to attract investors.

CM said that provincial government is also working on establishing its own power regulatory authority which would further strengthen the initiative and help leverage existing hydropower resources as a foundation for provincial growth and development.

Under this agreement, 40-kilometer long 132/220 KV transmission line would be laid from Matiltan to Madian. The project would be completed within the next one and half year with an estimated cost of Rs. 8 billion. This transmission line would help out the evacuation of electricity generated by the 84 MW Matiltan Hydropower Project and other provincial government projects in Swat to the national grid or supply it at discounted rates to local industries. The project on completion is expected to generate approximately Rs. 7.00 billion annually for the provincial government.

It is worth mentioning here that the aforementioned 40 KM long transmission line is the phase-1 of the integrated study plan of the Swat Corridor Transmission Line project. Under the Phase-II of this project, an additional 80-kilometer line would be laid from Madian to Chakdara.