ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will inaugurate commencement of construction work on Dasu Hydropower Project on Sunday.
The project is being constructed on River Indus upstream of Dasu town in Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Dasu Hydropower Project is a component of least-cost electricity generation strategy of the Federal Government to add low-priced hydel electricity to the National Grid to overcome electricity shortages in the country, improve the ratio of hydel electricity in the overall system, stabilise electricity tariff and provide relief to the consumers.
The Hydropower Project is a runoff river project on Indus River located seven kilo meter (km) upstream of Dasu Town, district Kohistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The site of Dasu hydro power project is 74 km downstream of proposed Diamer Bhasha Dam site and 350 km from Islamabad.
The Hydropower Project will have total installed capacity of 4320 Mega Watt (MW) which is among the priority projects under the National Power Policy 2013 and Vision 2025 of Government of Pakistan.
The Project will be implemented in two Stages. Each Stage will have capacity of 2160 MW. About 12 Billion power Units would be generated annually on completion of Stage-I.
PC-I of Project (Stage-I) of Rs. 486,093 Million was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in March 2014.
Main Civil Works Contracts of the project is awarded to M/s CGGC, China. Contract Agreement with M/s CGGC, China was signed on March 08, 2017 after which the Contractor has commenced its services with effect from June 23, 2017.
The estimated cost of the Stage-I is about US$ 4.2 billion. The World Bank (IDA) is providing a credit of US$ 824 million, while remaining funds are being arranged by WAPDA from its own resources with partial guarantee of World Bank and the rest by the Government of Pakistan.
The government has already arranged local financing for the project worth Rs.144 billion from a consortium of local banks in March this year. It has also secured US$ 350 million last week from the international financial market at a very competitive rate and a staggered draw down to suit the project’s financing requirements.
Agreement with Local Commercial Banks for financing upto PKR 144 Billion was signed on March 29, 2017 out of which the First tranche of PKR 25 Billion has been received in May 2017. A Total land of 9917 acres is required for the Project. Most of the Land for Preparatory and Main Works has been acquired. Process for acquiring remaining land for the power project is in progress.
An amount of Rs. 1131 Million has been disbursed to affecters until now for awarded land. Dasu Hydropower Project is a vital development scheme not only for the country but also for KP Province, as the project will stabilise the economy of Pakistan by providing low-cost hydel electricity besides ushering in a new era of socio-economic development.
