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LAHORE: The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) is working on hydropower projects with cumulative generation capacity of about 20,000MW. Of them, the projects about 7,000MW are in the construction phase, while the rest of them are in the final stage of their detailed engineering designs.
This was stated by Chairman Shakil Durrani while addressing a delegation of the National Institute of Management (NIM), Peshawar, at Wapda House here on Wednesday. The delegation was led by NIM Chief Instructor Dr Faizur Rahman.
The chairman said the authority was executing on priority 969MW Neelum Jhelum, 4,500MW Diamer Bhasha Dam, 1,410MW Tarbela 4th Extension, 7,100MW Bunji, 4,320MW Dasu, 740MW Munda Dam etc. to cope with the increasing demand of electricity in the country.
These projects would not only help stabilise electricity tariff by increasing ratio of low-cost hydel electricity in the national grid but also rid dependence on imported oil.
Responding to a question, the chairman said that Wapda had procured two state-of-the-art tunnel boring machines to expedite work on strategically important Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project. At present, about 32 per cent construction work is complete, while overall completion of the project is expected by mid 2016, he said.
Apprising the delegation of technical expertise of Wapda, the chairman said the first-ever tunnel boring machine in the world was used in Pakistan during the construction of the Mangla Dam in the 60s.
Earlier, the delegation was briefed on water and power sector by Wapda Chief Engineer (Diamer Bhasha Dam) Shamshad Muhammad Khan and Pepco Director General (Energy Management and Conservation) Ejaz Rafiq Qureshi, respectively.
Wapda Managing Director (Administration) Naveed Akram Cheema and Secretary Muhammad Imtiaz Tajwar were also present. — Staff Reporter
