HARIPUR:World Bank Regional Vice-President for South Asia Martin Raiser examined work on the Tarbela Dam extension and Dasu hydropower projects here on Saturday.

Wapda chairman retired Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani and World Bank executive director Syed Tauqir Hussain Shah accompanied him, according to the media wing of the Tarbela Dam in Ghazi tehsil here.

It added that the World Bank vice-president visited the sites of the fifth Tarbela extension project being executed on Tunnel No 5 and examined construction activities on main components.

The project team briefed him on the work, especially the powerhouse, tail race culvert, canal, and switch yard and said the Tarbela 5th Extension had 1530mw installed power generation capacity, which, on the project’s completion, would increase the dam’s power generation capacity from 4,888mw to 6418mw.

It added that the project would begin power generation in 2025.

Later, the World Bank vice-president visited the site of the 1410mw Tarbela 4th Extension hydropower station put up in 2018 with the bank’s financial assistance.

The project team informed him that since its completion, the project had provided 22.56 billion power units to the national grid.

Mr Raiser later flew to the site of the Dasu hydropower project on the River Indus upstream of Dasu in Kohistan region and visited the powerhouse, transformers cavern and project colony to review construction.

The project team informed him about progress on the main works of the project and said the Indus River’s diversion system had been functioning “satisfactorily” since its completion early this year.

“Flushing tunnel is also in place, while excavation of the right bank bypasstunnel was recentlycompleted,” an official said.

He added that work on the 4320mw Dasu hydropower project would be completed in two stages.

“At present, the Wapda is executing the project’s Stage I with installed generation capacity of 2160mw and annual energy generation of 12 billion units. Stage I is likely to be commissioned in 2026,” he said.

The official said the World Bank provided financial support for both projects.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2023