ISLAMABAD, Oct 26: After receiving funds from an oil and gas company on Friday, five government schools in Islamabad`s rural areas are set to get solar powered electricity.

However, the list of the schools will be forwarded to the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development (CADD) on Monday for the formal approval to establish the system.

The schools are located in the remote areas of Islamabad and the ICT administration has decided to form a local committee to maintain the system.

`This committee will include our officers, the principals of the schools and some local elders so that the community takes the ownership of the project,` said Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Amir Ali Ahmed.

The project has entered the execution phase as the Hungarian oil and gas exploration company MOL on Friday released around Rs2.5 million to the ICT administration in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The initiative has been taken after the Supreme Court recently directed the oil and gas companies to spend 10 per cent of their royalties in the areas where they carried out exploration activities.

Though MOL has yet to hit any oil or gas find in Islamabad, the company has carried out 2-D (two-dimension) survey using small explosives at Margalla Hills off the Golra area.

The shockwaves generated by the explosives depict the geophysical formations under the ground.

`We have decided that all the 125 schools in Islamabad`s rural area will be provided solar power in the next three years, said the deputy commissioner `Currently, the most serious issue for the schools is payment of electricity bills,` he added. `Besides, the students will learn and see how electricity is produced.

The ICT administration has estimated the cost of installing the solar powered electricity system in the schools between Rs200,000 and Rs250,000.

It can be reduced if storage battery is not installed.

Since schools in the rural areas do not have night shifts, backup by the battery will not be required.

`Currently, we have funds to establish the system in 10 schools, and getting more funds is not an issue, but we are moving slowly to develop the expertise of the officials and the locals,` the DC added.

It is expected that the villagers will also install such solar-based units in their homes after their success in the schools.

Besides, the ICT administration is also pinning hopes in the success of the project so that many of its own installations could be converted to solar, like the streetlights and 65 water supply schemes in the rural area.