Power crisis: France, Pakistan join hands to fix historic power plant

After rehabilitation, the Jabban hydel plant will generate 22 MW; work to be completed in one year.

Construction work on Jabban Hydropower Rehabilitation Project (JHP), in Dargai Malakand has been started. The total cost of the project is Rs3.7 billion, incluidng 25 million euros, to be provided by French Development Agency (AFD). The project is scheduled to be completed within one year, says a press release issued by the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA).

Once rehabilitated, the project will generate 22MW electricity.

Wapda Chairman Shakil Durrani, while speaking at a ceremony held at Jabban, Malakand Division, recently said that the authority was implementing a two-prong strategy for optimum utilisation of indigenous hydropower resources to cope with the growing demand for electricity in the country.

On one hand, Wapda was establishing a number of new hydropower projects, on the other it was also refurbishing and rehabilitating aged hydel power plants, he said, adding that the strategy would help improving the ratio of low-cost hydel electricity in the national grid to stabilise the power tariff.

The chairman said hydel power projects with a cumulative generation capacity of more than 1,400MW were under construction, while work on the 4,500MW Diamer-Bhasha Dam, the largest power project in Pakistan, will soon be started.

He said a consultancy agreement to carry out a feasibility study for the upgradation of generating units for the 1,000MW Mangla Power Station was awarded last month.

Durrani further said the selection of consultants for rehabilitation and refurbishment of the 243MW Warsak Power Station is also underway.

Wapda board member (Power) Muhammad Qasim Khan and other officers also attended the ceremony.

JHP was established in 1937 with a generation capacity of 9.6MW.

It was the biggest hydropower station when Pakistan came into existence. Its generation capacity was raised to 19.6MW in 1952 with the addition of two turbines of 5MW each.

During the early days of Pakistan when there were no hydel stations like Warsak, Mangla and Tarbela, JHP played a pivotal role in the development of country by generating cheap electricity. About seven decades later, the power station was badly damaged in a fire.

Thereafter, Wapda decided to undertake complete rehabilitation instead of patchwork repairs. Under the rehabilitation works, four units of 5.5MW each will be installed to elevate its generation capacity to 22MW.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2011.