WAPDA reviews work on Warsak Dam rehabilitation

European institutions providing 130m euros for restoring lost capacity

LAHORE: Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Chairman Zafar Mahmood on Friday visited Warsak Dam and its hydel power station in Khyber and Mohmand agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

He reviewed matters relating to rehabilitation of the power station. Wapda is in the middle of executing the second rehabilitation project to help restore the power station’s generation capacity, which has dropped to 193 megawatts from 243MW due to ageing of electro-mechanical equipment.

The rehabilitation work is being carried out at an approved cost of Rs22.25 billion to overcome the ageing problem, recover the 50MW capacity loss with reliable annual energy generation of 1.14 billion units, upgrade and modernise the old system and achieve another lifecycle of 30 to 40 years.

German financial institution KfW and French Development Agency (AFD) are providing 40 million euros each in loans, while the European Investment Bank is giving 50 million euros for the second rehabilitation project.

During his visit, the Wapda chairman was briefed by project authorities on the progress achieved so far.

The chairman said Wapda, on the directives of the government, had been vigorously implementing a least-cost energy generation plan to add low-priced hydel electricity to the system to overcome electricity shortages in the country.

This plan is aimed at optimal utilisation of the domestic hydropower resources. In addition to constructing new projects, Wapda has also been rehabilitating and upgrading ageing hydel power stations.

The Warsak project was financed by the Canadian government under the Colombo plan. The first phase of the Warsak Dam and hydel power station was completed in 1960-61 consisting of the dam, irrigation tunnels, four generating units with cumulative capacity of 160MW, switchyard and a transmission line.

Following his visit to the Warsak Dam, the Wapda chairman also inspected construction work on the 1,410MW Tarbela 4th extension hydropower project.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2016.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.