MUZAFFARABAD, 12 AUG (DNA) – Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif arrived in Muzaffarabad on Friday. He expressed great confidence and said that his government was committed to complete all power projects on schedule, so as to rid the country of frequent power outages and to boost industrial growth.

The Prime Minister is personally overseeing the mega Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHP), designed to produce 969 MW of cheap hydel electricity and lessen reliance on thermal power generation.

The Project envisages diversion of Neelum waters through tunnels at Nauseri about 41 km upstream of Muzaffarabad and draining the waters in Jhelum River at Chatter Kalas in AJ&K, where the powerhouse will be located.

The project would produce 969 MW through its four turbines of 242.25 MW each, generating 5,150 GWh (5.15 billion units) annually. The project was launched on January 2008 and would be completed by mid of 2017. The project is being completed by the China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC).

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was accompanied with Ministers for Finance Ishaq Dar, Water and Power; Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Information Pervez Rashid, were given a detailed briefing on the progress in the project.

He was informed that over 82 per cent of work has been completed, while efforts were underway to complete it on time. Prime Minister AJK Raja Farooq Haider, Special Assistant on Political Affairs Dr Asif Kirmani were also present on the occasion. DNA