Wapda’s chairman wishes to expedite the Dasu hydropower project

Wapda Chairman retired Lt. Gen. Sajjad Ghani stated on Tuesday that the tempo of construction work on the Dasu hydropower project will accelerate further now that the lengthy process of land acquisition has been substantially completed.

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During a visit, he praised the project management’s efforts and the district administration and provincial government’s assistance in resolving this issue. In addition, he had a thorough tour of the project’s initial dam and underground power plant.

The Wapda chairman was informed by the project managers that the river diversion system functioned effectively during the recent period of elevated water flow.

A 1,300-meter-long flushing conduit on the river’s left bank was opened as a temporary measure last week. This is intended to divert traffic away from the primary dam site and facilitate excavation of the dam’s left bank abutment. In addition, excavation work is presently underway for various components, including the intake, power house, tail race tunnel, surge chamber, and transformers cavern.

With a total capacity of 4320MW, the Dasu hydropower project is being executed in two phases. The first phase, which entails the construction of a 2,160MW power generation facility, is presently underway and is anticipated to begin producing electricity in 2026.

The Wapda chairman instructed the project team to conclude phase-1 of the river diversion by November as planned.

He also visited the Diamer-Basha dam project, whose completion is scheduled for 2027-28.

The dam will have a gross water storage capacity of 8.1MAF to irrigate an additional 1.23 million acres of land. The project’s installed power generation capacity is 4,500MW.