LAHORE: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has decided to rehabilitate 69-year old 22MW Rasul Hydel Power Station located in Punjab’s Mandi Bahauddin district, at a link between Upper Jhelum and Lower Jhelum canals near Khokhra Headworks.

An in-house feasibility study has been completed to move ahead for the rehabilitation of Rasul Hydel Power Station, according to a briefing given to Wapda chairman retired Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain on Tuesday.

Rasul Hydel Power Station was commissioned in 1952 with an installed capacity of 22MW. It was the biggest hydel power project of Pakistan commissioned after independence. Since its commissioning, the project contributed about 5.5 billion units of low-cost, clean, green and environment-friendly electricity to the National Grid. “However, the reduced efficiency of the equipment due to obsolete technology and ageing factor necessitated rehabilitation to increase its generation capacity,” the project resident engineer told the chairman and other senior officials including Mangla Hydel Power Station chief engineer.

Highlighting the significance of hydel electricity in stabilising the power tariff and facilitating socio-economic uplift of the country, the chairman said Wapda had been implementing a two-pronged plan for making optimal utilisation of hydro resources in Pakistan.

“On the one hand, we have been constructing new projects including Mohmand, Diamer Bhasha and Dasu, while on the other, we are rehabilitating our aged hydel power stations like Mangla, Warsak and Rasul to improve hydel ratio in the system under the plan,” he said.

Earlier, the chairman visited the power station and allied components including spillway and head gates.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2021