THE multipurpose Warsak dam was the first initiative of its kind after independence jointly executed by the governments of Pakistan and Canada. The project took five years for completion through aid under the Colombo Plan by the Canadian government with original estimated cost of Rs156 million in 1955.

Since its commissioning in 1960, the condition of the power station has been deteriorating. This is mainly because of structural deformations, sedimentation, erosion in hydraulic equipment and the aging of the generating units (55 years of first four units and 35 years of remaining two units) reducing the generation capacity to 150 MW with the passage of time.

The non-provision of silt exclusion in the design resulted in the silting up of the reservoir after three years of its operation. Currently, owing to the rise of riverbed on the upstream side of Warsak dam, the project has become a run-of-the-river with no capacity for storage.

It is almost impossible to de-silt the dam as the mammoth exercise would cost more money than building a new one. This necessitated the need for rehabilitation of the existing power station to restore its installed capacity of 243 MW.

The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) in its meeting held on July 27 approved Warsak hydro electric power station (second rehabilitation) at a rationalised cost of Rs22.25 billion with FEC of Rs11.28 billion. The rehabilitation works under phase II would address the main existing problems of the Warsak site to enhance the generation capacity to its actual value of 243MW.

Foregoing in view, it is highly desirable that the rehabilitation work of the Warsak power station is undertaken and executed at the earliest to help lessen the power crises to some extent and get the most economical and environment-friendly source of energy.

Khan Faraz

Peshawar

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2015

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