LAHORE: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) signed on Friday a contract with a Chinese company for the construction of a project colony and infrastructure –- one of the major components of the 4,320MW Dasu Hydropower Project. The construction work is expected to begin after approval of the mobilization advance by Wapda for the company. However, the firm - M/s China Gansu International Corporation for Economic and Technical Cooperation (CGICOP) - is required to complete the construction work of the colony in two years under the Rs4.90 billion contract, according to official sources.

Wapda has acquired 740 of around 2,000 acres required to it on a top priority. The 740 acres acquired included over 84 acres required for the construction of the project colony. Since there is no road access to land previously, Wapda got constructed the road to access the land.

“Actually, we need 9,875 acres for the entire project. Of this, we require 1,987 acres on a priority basis and out of this we have succeeded in acquiring 740 acres, enabling Wapda to get the civil work on the project started last year,” a senior official told Dawn on anonymity request. “The remaining 1,247 acres of the total priority land of 1,987 acres is underway on fast track these days. Similarly, the work to acquire land (7,888 acres) required for the reservoir and other purposes is also underway,” he added.

The contract includes construction of the a complex comprising of several offices, infrastructure, road network, distribution network for water supply and water treatment works, sewerage system network, waste water treatment works, electrification of colony, boundary wall and permanent security watch towers. The contract was signed by the Dasu Hydropower Project General Manager/Project Director Javed Akhtar and CGICOP Principal Officer Guan Wei on behalf of their organizations in a ceremony held here at project the management office. “Besides this colony, another is also planned to be constructed in our upstream. The work is also underway to have road access to this piece of land too that would be done soon,” the official said.

The project will be completed in two stages. The World Bank is partially providing funds for construction of the Stage-1. On completion in five years as per PC-I, stage-1 of the project will contribute more than 12 billion units per annum. The stage-II, after its completion will also provide another 9 billion units to the national grid every year. The construction work on main civil works of stage-1 was commenced in 2017. In addition, the construction work on eight different contracts relating to preparatory works in the area is also underway. These preparatory works include construction of right bank access roads, relocation of Karakoram Highway (KKH), construction of transmission line and grid station to provide electricity from Dubair Khwar Hydel Power Station to the site for implementing the project and resettlement sites for affectees.

The project being constructed on River Indus 7km upstream of Dasu Town in Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), is a vital development project not only for the country but also for KP, as it will stabilize the economy of Pakistan by providing low-cost hydel electricity besides triggering a new era of socio-economic development in the far flung areas of the Province. “We had started main civil works last year. These also include diversion of the river through constructing tunnels etc,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2018