Natural Resource Management
Damochal Batkore
Micro-Hydel Power Plant
Damochal Batkore is a village situated at the east of Gilgit city at nearly 120 KMs. This village falls into GBLA-3 Constituency. According to Historians, the first settlements in the area started around 400 BC. In the modern era, this area still lacks the basic facilities. This village has excessive amount of clean and fresh water and people here (on the self-base) plant fruit trees and grow vegetables (which are supplied to Gilgit market). The area is also blessed with beautiful and natural pastures. The only way of the communication with rest of the world is through travel by road, which is considered one of the dangerous roads in the area. This beautiful area has produced 6 PHD doctors and one person is serving in Pakistan Army as Brigadier.
One of the main problems of this area is electricity. On self-finance, some people hardly managed to get a solar panel just to lit a bulb during night. During winters, families move to Jalalabad valley or the other areas of Gilgit Baltistan. In summers, they move back to village but without electricity they manage their lives.
On 29 February 2020, Community Development Section and MERL Section of GBRSP visited this area and organized a meeting with the community and discussed about a Micro Hydel Project. The GBRSP team discussed details regarding procedure, Methodology and development of the project. The community informed the team about the sufficiency of Water in the area to generate electricity. The team visited the site and recommended it to Technical and Engineering section of GBRSP. The project will be completed as mutual collaboration between community and GBRSP. 80% of the project will be financed by the GBRSP, rest of the 20% will be covered by the community through providing land, labor and local material. There won’t be any compensation of any kind.
The project was inaugurated on 3 November 2020 by the CEO of GBRSP Mr. Abdul Latif and GM of GBRSP Mr. Ashfaq Ahmad.