Introduction:

Dasu Hydropower Project has a cumulative generation capacity of 4,320 MW. The dam is being constructed by WAPDA on River Indus, upstream of Dasu Town in District Kohistan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province.

Proposed RCG (Gravity) Dam has a planned height of 242 meters, with Gross Storage Capacity of 1,410 million cubic meters and Live Storage Capacity of 820 million cubic meters. Once completed the water storage shall be able to irrigate 15.88 million hectares of land. 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 five years and will contribute more than 12 billion units per annum to the National Grid. The Stage-II, after its completion, will provide, another 9 billion units to the system every year.

The Project is supervised by Dasu Hydropower Consultant (DHC), a Joint Venture of M/s Nippon Koei (Japan) Lead Firm & M/s Dolsar (Turkey) with local Sub-Consultants M/s DMC, M/s NDC & M/s PES. The contract for Major Civil Works is handed over to M/s China Gezhouba Group Co. Ltd. World Bank is main donor of Project along with local commercial banks consortium (led by HBL). Loan arrangement from other International Banks is under process for remaining project finance. Current progress of project financing is as follows;

World Bank:

Agreement between the Government of Pakistan, WAPDA and the World Bank from IDA Credit of US$ 588.4 Million signed on August 25, 2014 along with an IDA Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG) of US$ 460 Million. Loan Agreement is effective since November 20, 2014.

Local Commercial Banks:

Agreement with Local Commercial Banks led by M/s HBL for financing up to Rs. 144 Billion signed on March 29, 2017. 1st tranche of Rs. 25 Billion has been received in May 2017.

Foreign Commercial Bank:

Agreement with M/s Credit Suisse Bank for US$ 350 Million Credit signed on June 29, 2017. 1st tranche of US$ 188 Million received on June 30, 2017.

Shortfall:

There is a shortfall of US$ 485 million, which is being arranged through Economic Affairs Division.

Current Progress:

  • Preparatory Works: WAPDA has awarded five contracts related to relocation of KKH, Access roads and 132 kV Transmission Line Contractors for 03 Contracts KKH-01(8%), RAR-01 (12.58%) & TL-01 (12.89%) are mobilized at project site and are carrying out construction activities. Contracts of KKH-02 &RAR-02 have been signed and commencement orders will be issued soon.
  • Resettlement Works: 3 Nos. Contracts of resettlement sites have been awarded and signed with Chinese Firms. Contractors will mobilize at project site soon after finalization of Resettlement sites by affectees. Details of the contract along with progress made so far is shown below.
  • Main Civil Works: Main Civil Works Contracts awarded to M/s CGGC, China. Contract agreement with M/s CGGC, China signed on March 08, 2017. Contractor has commenced services and mobilized at Site w.e.f. June 23, 2017. Construction activities on Access Roads, Diversion Tunnel, Inlet & Outlet are in progress.
  • Electro-Mechanical Works: Pre-Qualification process has been completed. Bidding Documents issued to prequalified applicants on August 9, 2017. Addendum for extension in bid opening date for eight weeks is in process of finalization.

Contracts Awarded:


Contracts in Process:


Glitches in Development:

The Project is facing problems in acquisition of land due to following reasons causing delays in project:

  • The Project is located in district Kohistan which is a non-settled area where land record is not available. WAPDA has established a separate ‘Land Acquisition & Assessment Unit under DC Kohistan which is responsible for preparation of revenue record. The survey and revenue record of some of the priority areas are in process of finalization and the remaining will be completed shortly.
  • Interruptions by Local Affectees who are demanding higher land rates than the rates approved by ECNEC. Negotiations with affectees through DC office are underway to resolve the matter.