Dasu hydropower project inauguration postponed

Nawaz had earlier announced he would lay foundation of the project the same day JIT is due to submit its final report

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to Dasu town, Kohistan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Monday has been postponed due to inclement weather.

A fresh date for the visit will be announced later subject to weather condition, PM Office media wing said in a press release on Sunday.

The prime minister has to inaugurate commencement of the construction work on the Dasu hydropower project.

Nawaz had announced on Friday to lay the foundation stone of 4,500MW Dasu power plant, saying it would happen the same day the JIT was due to submit its final report to the Supreme Court.



The World Bank (IDA) is providing a credit of $824 million while remaining funds are being arranged by WAPDA from its own resources with partial guarantee of World Bank and the rest by the government.

The government has already arranged local financing for the project worth Rs144 billion from a consortium of local banks in March this year.

It has also secured $350 million last week from the international financial market at a very competitive rate and a staggered draw down to suit the project's financing requirements.

Agreement with local commercial banks for financing up to Rs144 billion was signed on March 29 out of which the first tranche of Rs25 billion has been received in May 2017.

A total land of 9,917 acres is required for the project while most of the land for preparatory and main works have been acquired. Process for acquiring remaining land for the power project is in progress. APP