Perched along the lower reaches of the Swat River, which snakes through Pakistan’s mountainous northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Matta is popular with tourists who come to see the breathtaking waterfalls and lakes that feed the river, a major tributary of the Indus River.
More than two million people are estimated to visit the district’s valleys annually to enjoy views of the Hindukush mountain peaks and meadows. Mustafa says that 70 per cent of local people here earn a livelihood from tourism.
The new 140 kilowatt hydroelectric plant now running on the Swat River is just one of hundreds of small hydro projects planned in the province, and will provide off-grid power directly to around 700 households.
“This is just a beginning of unleashing the province’s tremendous green energy potential,” said Imran Khan, a former international cricket star and now leader of the province’s governing party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), at the launch of the project.
“We are committed to (using it) to cut pressure on forests, get rid of reliance on polluting, environment- and health-damaging sources of energy, and provide the people with cheap, clean and reliable energy,” he said.
The PTI plans to build as many as 356 micro-hydroelectric power projects in the province’s mountain villages, officials said.
Former state minister for the environment, Malik Amin Aslam Khan, is the brain behind the ambitious plan, which is part of the PTI’s Green Growth Initiative (GGI), launched earlier this year. The GGI aims to boost the province’s socio- economic development by efficiently using natural resources without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Malik Khan said that the new hydro-electric plants, with capacities ranging from 10 to 500 kilowatts, will be completed in the next 18 months at a cost of around 5 billion Pakistani rupees ($49m).
