800ft long tunnel built to provide electricity to 9 villages in Chitral
Gul Hammad Farooqi
CHITRAL: A 600 KV hydro power house at Sewakht village of Karimabad Valley has become operational. An eight hundred ft long and 7 ft wide tunnel was constructed by local engineers and laborers to materialize the project with the technical help of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme and GAP, and funding from the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund. The project will supply electricity to nine villages of the Karimabad valley.
Completion of the 800ft long tunnel was celebrated with a “thanks-giving day”. A special event was also held to celebrate the the day. The project is expected to prove a milestone to the GAP commitment for larger projects and its efforts to work on the next generation energy solutions for sustainable livelihood and to make energy work for low income families and households.
Sardar Ayub of AKRSP said that the project has been constructed jointly, with funding coming from PPAF and the local community. The local community chipped in around 10 million rupees with the 68 million provided by PPAF, he said.
The project, overall, comprises of two tunnels; 800 and 115 feet long, prepared by local engineers and laborers.
Initially, the power house will provide 500 KV power to around 1200 families, or 11,000 individuals. After a period of two years 600 KV electricity will be added to the current capacity and more households will be covered.
The local people have hailed GAP, AKRSP and PPAF for providing electricity to the nine villages.
In the photographs below, the local people who contributed to the project are being rewarded and regarded for their services.
Congrats to all those involved in the planning, funding and imlementation of the project. I was at the project site during May 2012 and did see the tunnel and was skeptical but AKRSP managemnt including the GM, engr Sher Khan, engr Sardar Ayub, the field staff and the village people deserve appriciation to complete the project. I wonder if this project will also help in heating of the houses during winters and also help in initating small enterprises which require electricity!