LAHORE: In a significant development regarding hydel resources in the country, construction work on the 4,320-megawatt Dasu hydropower project will commence within a week, as civil works contractor has been mobilised for the purpose.

During his visit to the project site on Wednesday, Chairman of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) retired Lt Gen Syed Muzammil Hussain said: “Commencement of the Dasu project’s construction is going to be a good omen for development of hydropower potential in the country, as the mega-scheme is being constructed by leveraging Wapda’s financial strength.”

According to a press release issued by the authority, Mr Hussain visited the site to review progress made regarding infrastructure development and resettlement activities leading to socio-economic uplift of the population concerned.

The Wapda chairman said that of the $4.2 billion required for completion of the first phase of the project, the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) was providing a credit of $824 million, while the rest of the amount was being arranged by the authority from various commercial sources.

Expressing satisfaction over the financial arrangement for construction of the project, he said that Wapda ventured into the international financial market last week to secure $350m at a very competitive rate as it staggered draw down to suit the project’s financing requirements.

The amount was raised with partial guarantee of the World Bank (IDA) and the rest with the sovereign guarantee of the government.

“The successful financing is a testament to the confidence reposed by the international financial institutions in the credit worthiness of Wapda. Apart from this [financing], Wapda has already arranged local financing for the project worth Rs144bn from a consortium of local banks,” said Mr Hussain.

The 4,320MW Dasu hydropower project is being built by Wapda on the Indus, upstream of Dasu town, in Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The project will be completed in two phases — each stage having a power generation capacity of 2,160MW.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2017