SWABI, Dec 4: The first 290mw unit of Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project (GBHP) may be inaugurated at the end of the current month while the rest of the units would start generating electricity by the end of next year, sources told Dawn.

The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) sources said the civil work of the first phase of the project has already been completed while the overall physical progress is also in the final stage and would be ready for testing and functioning in the current month.

According to the original schedule, the GBHP had to be completed by Aug 2002 but was delayed due to stoppage of its construction by the Ghazi Barotha Contractors (GBC) in the aftermath of the Sept 11 terror attacks on the United States and the US-led coalition air strikes on Afghanistan, citing the security reasons.

However, the sources said when the interim government was installed in Kabul soon after the defeat of Taliban, instead of resuming construction, the Italian construction firm demanded an increase in the construction rate and extra payment for the delay in construction, resulting in a dispute between the construction firm and Wapda.

The delay, the sources said, was costing $1 million per day to Wapda/government and the total loss had reached to about $110 million and the situation had reached to such a boiling point that Pakistan had to warn the firm that there was no justification to further delay the construction, “so either resume the construction or face a legal action.”

However, the sources said, in February the two parties struck a deal and the construction of the project resumed in early March and most of the former employees were recalled.

The Barotha project of five generators, each one having the capacity of 290mw, total 1,450mw, is the world’s largest power channel for generating hydro-electricity at economically viable rate of around 60 paisa per unit, which would not only boost the financial position of the cash-starved Wapda but the power consumers may also get some relief.

The progress so far achieved, the sources said, is that more than 97 per cent work on the barrage and 90 per cent on the channel and 80 per cent on the complex has been completed and one of its five 290mw units would be inaugurated at the end of the current month and the rest of the units would be completed by the end of next year.

The power channel of the project starts about seven kilometres downstream of the Tarbela and extends up to 52km at Barotha.