RECORDER REPORT

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak presided over a meeting of Board of Directors of KP Energy Development Fund here at Chief Minister Secretariat Peshawar that approved the transfer of Rs 15 billion back to the board fund.

The board also decided to provide 76 MW of electricity ready for production in June-July through Draul Khwar and Machai for the industrial consumption comparatively at a cheaper rate for the industrial growth as per the policy of provincial government.

The meeting also agreed that the electricity produced thus could be extended to the Kheshgi and Warsak irrigation system as the electricity billing of both ran in millions. EZDMC would take care of the additional electricity of the province being produced from different hydro power projects and would sell it out to different buyers.

Meeting was attended by provincial ministers Muhammad Atif Khan, Muzafar Said, ACS Azam Khan, administrative secretaries and other members of the board. The meeting debated the previous decisions of the board and approved the minutes.

The meeting also cleared Rs 1 billion for the solarization of 1000 Mosques and the retransfer of the allocation to the Energy Development Fund.

Addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister asked the quarter concerned to keep him aware of any emergency or the abnormality at the site and infrastructure of natural gas at Karak.

He stressed to create conducive environment for negotiation taking the stakeholders on board. At the same time he assured to take the issue and the concern of the locals with the federal government. The federal government, he added should initiate the extension of natural gas to the agreed areas falling at the radius of 5 kilo meters.

The meeting also agreed to the excavation of Lucky block having the oil potential. The meeting Okayed the seismic and geological survey of the Lucky block and stress for a focus approach in order to get tangible results and the performance is visible too.

The board also agreed to prepare a PC-1 for estimation and excavation at Mughal Kot and Mattani where the Seepage reported and the potential of natural gas is there. A formal decision would be taken after the feasibility report. At the moment it was creating a threat to environment, the meeting noted.

Pervez Khattak agreed to add resources to the hydel power fund in the next fiscal year and asked the participants to explore different avenues for raising fund through different mechanism.