ALPURI: Residents of Shangla have expressed growing frustration over prolonged power outages, saying extended loadshedding is disrupting daily life and hurting small businesses despite the district generating far more electricity than it consumes.
The residents said that electricity remained unavailable for three to four hours at a stretch, followed by additional one-hour outages at regular intervals, particularly during the recent heatwave. They claimed the situation worsened on Thursday and Friday, while similar outages have become common on weekends across the district.
Traders, social activists and residents said frequent power cuts had severely affected small businesses that rely on electricity and could not afford backup systems such as generators, UPS units or solar power.
According to the residents, Shangla produces about 85 megawatts (MW) of electricity through the 72MW Khan Khwar Hydropower Project and the 13MW Karora Hydropower Project, while the district’s total electricity requirement is around 6MW. They questioned why the district continued to face severe loadshedding despite generating a surplus of electricity.
Residents also recalled that before the construction of the Khan Khwar Dam, local communities operated small hydropower units and watermills using canal water. They said those facilities were destroyed after the dam was built, affecting livelihoods and local electricity supply.
The residents further alleged that authorities had promised electricity, employment opportunities, royalty payments and other development benefits to communities affected by the hydropower projects, but many of those commitments remain unfulfilled.
They urged the federal government to take notice of the situation and direct PESCO to improve the power supply in the district. They also demanded that at least the district’s basic electricity requirement be met from the power generated locally and that all commitments made to the affected communities be honoured.
