MANSEHRA: The National Highway Authority (NHA) on Friday reinstalled its toll plaza in the Sungar area near Balakot here after the approval of the district administration.

Last month, protesters dismantled the plaza and threw it into the Kunhar River to protest the collection of toll tax from people travelling between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and GilgitBaltistan.

A follow-up meeting, attended by Deputy Commissioner Khalid Iqbal, District Police Officer Shafiullah Khan Gandapur and other stakeholders, conditionally approved the resumption of toll collection by the NHA.

Under the agreement, toll tax will only be collected from passengers and tourists, while residents of the Mansehra district are exempted from the charges when travelling through the plaza.

The new toll plaza has been installed in the Sungar area near Balakot to help reduce traffic congestion on the MansehraNaran-Jalkhad (MNJ) Road.

The deputy commissioner said that the Rs4 billion earmarked by the federal government for road and development projects in the Kaghan Valley could only be released if toll collection was ensured on the MNJ Road.

HAZESCO BEGINS OPER ATIONS: Chairman of the Wapda HydroElectric Union Jamil Tanoli on Friday said that the newly-formed Hazara Electric Supply Company (Hazesco) had formally begun operations and would begin issuing utility bills in the current months.

`We have successfullydetached Hazesco from the Peshawar Electric Supply Company [Pesco] and will dispatch bills to around one million domestic and commercial consumers in this region this month,` Mr Tanoli told reporters.

He said the separation of Hazesco from Pesco was a major milestone made possible after the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority granted licences to allow the company to purchase, transmit and distribute electricity within its jurisdiction.

`Federal minister Sardar Mohammad Yusuf, former deputy speaker of the National Assembly Javed Murtaza Abbasi and former MNA retired Captain Mohammad Safdar are constantly in contact with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to ensure his early visit for the formal inauguration of Hazesco,` he said.

Mr Tanoli said the Business Transfer Agreement between Pesco and Hazesco had officially been signed, allowing the latter to operate financially and administratively from the ongoing financial year.

`Despite facing several challenges, we are prioritising the resolution of prolonged power outages in Hazara and ensuring uninterrupted supply to commercial units by creating more grid stations across the division,` he said.

The union leader noted that work on a 132kv grid station in Mansehra would begin soon.

`With Hazesco now fully operational, thousands of residents will be appointed in grades from 1 to 16 across the division,` he said.

Mr Tanoli urged the PML-N lawmakers to convince Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to announce Rs10 billion funds for the acquisition of land and construction of the Hazesco headquarters either on Wapda`s land along Murree Road in Abbottabad or on the Hazara Expressway in Mansehra.