By Muhammad Luqman
In a significant development towards indigenous hydropower resources , the construction work on the 4320 MW-Dasu Hydropower Project will commence within a week, as the contractor for civil works has been mobilized to the project site.
“Dasu Hydropower Project’s construction is going to be a good omen for development of hydropower potential in Pakistan,”, Chairman Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain (R) said during his visit to the project.
Out of US$ 4.2 billion required for completion of Stage-I of Dasu Hydropower Project, the World Bank (IDA) is providing a credit of US$ 824 million, while the rest of the amount is being arranged by WAPDA from various commercial sources and reploughing its own revenue surplus.
WAPDA has successfully ventured into the international financial market on its own independent standing to secure US$ 350 million at a very competitive rate, unprecedented tenure of 10 years and a staggered draw down to suit the project’s financing requirements. This amount has been raised with partial guarantee of World Bank and the rest by the Pakistan government.
The 4320 MW-Dasu Hydropower Project is being constructed by WAPDA on River Indus upstream of Dasu Town in Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province. The project will be completed in two stages – each stage having a generation capacity of 2160 MW. Stage-I of Dasu Hydropower Project will be completed in almost five years and contribute more than 12 billion units per annum to the National Grid. The Stage-II, after its completion, will also provide another 9 billion units to the system every year.
