PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to award the contract for the execution of three hydropower projects of 564 megawatts capacityin Chitral district to the military-run Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).

The decision was made during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak earlier this month, of ficials in the know told Dawn.

The officials said the Shogo Sin, Shushgai and Miragram Laspur hydropower projects in various parts of Chitral were likely to cost up to $1 billion and the FWO would foot the bill.They said the FWO would finance the projects on built, own, operate and transfer (Boot) basis with both the sides finalising a memorandum of understanding on it at the moment.

The officials however said currently, terms and conditions of the understanding had yet to be finalised.An official said the Shogo Sin project was to produce around 132 megawatts electricity with its cost coming to $270 million.

He said the Shushgai hydropower project was likely to generate 144 megawatts electricity at a cost of $288 million, while the Miragram Laspur project`s capacity was around 230 megawatts electricity with its cost coming to $522 million.

The official said work on those projects was likely to begin in the next fiscal year and complete in five years.

He said though the FWO would built, own and operate these power stations before transferring them to the provincial government, the concession period had yet to be decided.

The official said at the current stage, the government hoped that it would get water use charges and some other form of share though nothing was final.

He said the projects were among a dozen such projects planned by the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo).

The official said the projects were part of the 10 years hydel energy action plan prepared by the Pedo under which a total of 24 hydropower projects were to be executed from 2011 to 2020.