CHITRAL: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister for irrigation Mehmood Khan on Friday inaugurated work on a 700-megawatt power project in Ayun area of Chitral.

Addressing a function on the occasion, he blamed the federal government for creating hurdles in tapping the hydropower potential of the province by withholding payment of its net hydel profit.

He said that the province would soon get rid of the menace of power outages owing to `strenuous efforts` being taken by the provincial government in the power sector.

The project would be built under the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), financed by the European Union.

Mr Khan said that the government had planned construction of 355 hydropower stations in eight districts of the province.

This is really a success story of Imran Khan and his team, claimed the minister.

Mr Khan said since the SRSP had been rendering valuable service in the exploita-tion of hydropower potential of the province, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had decided to entrust it with more development works in other sectors.

The minister claimed that his government had purged the departments, especially the public works department, of corruption and commission mafia by introducing e-tendering system.

He also described the reforms in education and health sectors as revolutionary steps taken by the PTI-led ruling coalition in the province.

Speaking on the occasion, SRSP chief executive officer Shahzada Masoodul Mulk said that the organisation had been doing its utmost to extend help to the community in solving their problems in different sectors through financial and social mobilisation.

He said that Ayun power project would cost Rs160 million which would be completedwithinninemonths.-Correspondent