Hydel resources can generate 59000 megawatt electricity

ISLAMABAD, : The country has been blessed with rich hydel potential that can generate 59 thousand megawatt power at cheap rates in coming few years and may reduce ever increasing oil import bill of the country.
An official in the Ministry of Water and Power told that in past country mainly relied on furnace oil to produce power and spent four thousand billion rupees to generate power that was much expensive as compared with hydel. Reliance on furnace oil increased the oil import bill and devalued the rupees in open market and gave boost to foreign loans but elimination of energy crises that has crippled the economy is still a dream.
The official said that Pakistan has rich hydel potential that and only in more than 16, 00 megawatt can be

generated from hydel resources. Indus River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has potential to produce four thousand megawatt from its different tributaries while different projects of four thousand megawatt can be completed from Jehlum River.
The official further said that proper attention given on the hydel resources then River Kunhar is capable to produce 1455 megawatt while Neelum River can produce 1769 megawatt electricity, similarly, Pooch River has the capacity to produce 462 megawatt power and Swan River can generate 2297 megawatt.
River Chitral can produce 2285 megawatt power from its flow but it is very unfortunate phenomena that in past government remained least bothered to produce cheap power through hydel resources. Monitoring Desk