GILGIT/LAHORE: Wapda Chair­­­man retired Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani said on Tuesday that the pace of construction work would further accelerate on the Dasu hydropower project, as the long-delayed process of land acquisition has been completed substantially.

During a visit, he appreciated the efforts of the project management and the support rendered by the district administration and provincial government to resolve this issue. He also had a detailed visit of the starter dam and the under-ground power house of the project.

Project managers informed the Wapda chairman that the river diversion system operated effectively throughout the recent period of high water flow.

Last week, a temporary measure was implemented by opening a left bank flushing tunnel that spans 1.3km. This aims to redirect traffic away from the primary dam site and simplify the process of excavating the dam’s abutment on the left bank. Additionally, excavation work for various components, including the intake, power house, tail race tunnel, surge chamber and transformers cavern, is currently under way.

The Dasu hydropower project, with a total capacity of 4320MW, is being executed in two phases. The first phase, which involves constructing a 2,160MW power generation facility, is currently in progress and is expected to commence electricity production in 2026.

The Wapda chairman directed the project team to complete the river diversion phase-1 by November as per the schedule.

He also visited the Diamer-Basha dam project which is scheduled for completion in 2027-28.

The dam will have a gross water storage of 8.1MAF to irrigate 1.23 million acres of additional land. Installed power generation capacity of the project stands at 4,500MW.

Published in Dawn, August 23th, 2023