Power project; ADB teams arrives in Chitral to prepare feasibility report

By Zahiruddin

CHITRAL: A team of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has arrived in Chitral to carry out feasibility study of two hydropower projects in the district, sources said on Sunday.
In a brief presentation to District Nazim Maghfirat Shah, the team members said that one of the two projects was located at Sin near Chitral city and the other at Zhondoli Kushum in upper Chitral.
The ADB team members said that the project at Sin had a design capacity of 127MW and involved a 10km tunnel while that of Kushum had 102MW generation capacity and required an 8.5km long tunnel. They told the district nazim that a comprehensive study of various parameters of the area including its geophysical study would be carried out before embarking upon the projects.
The district nazim asked the ADB team members to make the projects multi-purpose and provide irrigation water to the area by raising the head of the tunnels. He proposed that the altitudes of the tunnel at Terich valley should be increased which would not only shorten the length of the tunnel but also bring thousands of acres of arid land under cultivation. This would lead to economic prosperity in the area, he said.--Dawn