Govt eyes 2,160MW from Dasu hydropower project by 2021

LAHORE: The government is expected to complete stage-1 of the Dasu dam and its allied structure in the next five years to add 2,160 megawatts to the national grid, officials said.  

The project management briefed WAPDA Chairman Zafar Mahmood on the execution timelines of the stage-1 of Dasu hydropower project in a meeting. 

The government is implementing Dasu hydropower project in two stages.

The project management was confident that with issuance of tender documents on 12 February, the timeline for the start of construction of the main civil works would soon be finalized. It is expected that actual construction of the main dam would start by July 2016. 

The stage-1 of Dasu hydropower project is estimated to cost $4.3 billion. The World Bank conceived an innovative approach to finance the project. The World Bank provided a loan of $588 million and partial credit guarantee of $460 million. 

The bank may also provide another tranche of $533 million and a partial credit guarantee of $460 million in 2017. All this covers approximately 25 percent of the total project cost for stage-I. 

As indicated in the project appraisal document, around $2 billion commercial loan is to be obtained from the local as well as foreign banks by utilising the World Bank’s partial credit guarantee.

The meeting said the World Bank has issued the no objection letter after WAPDA met the precondition of awarding the mandate to a consortium of seven local banks led by Habib Bank Limited for providing loan amounting to Rs.144 billion to be disbursed in five years. 

WAPDA received approval of the guarantee from government of Pakistan on February 10, while it issued the mandate on February 11. 

WAPDA received NOL from the World Bank on February 12 and it issued the tender documents to the pre-qualified bidders on the same day. The pre-qualified bidders belong to Korea, Turkey, China, Italy and Vietnam, which are to submit their bids within 90 days of issuance of the tender documents. 

The total cost of the main civil works of stage-I is estimated to be $2.5 billion, according to Project Appraisal Document. Once the contract for main civil work is awarded, WAPDA will initiate the pre-qualification process of electro-mechanical works.