Ban slapped on sale of land for Balakot power project.

MANSEHRA -- The district administration has imposed Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, banning the sale, purchase and transfer of land to be acquired for the Balakot hydropower project.

'We have already met all legal formalities to acquire over 1,700 kanals of land for the Rs85 billion Balakot power project in Kaghan valley and this process will be completed shortly,' deputy commissioner Dr Qasim Ali Khan told energy minister Himayatullah Khan here on Tuesday.

Led by the minister and having energy secretary Mohammad Zubair as member, a delegation of the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation, which is executing the project, visited the project site afterward.

The deputy commissioner said the Balakot hydropower plant would be built downstream of the Suki Kanari hydropower project being executed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative on the Kunhar River in Kaghan valley.

'The ban on the sale, purchase or transfer of the land being acquired for the Balakot dam is imposed to expedite land acquisition process,' he said.

The energy secretary said the...