Wapda awards Rs10.6bn contract for Dargai rehabilitation project in KP

ISLAMABAD: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has awarded a Rs10.6 billion contract for the rehabilitation of Dargai Hydel Power Station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The contract, which covers both civil and electro-mechanical works, was granted to a joint venture comprising two Chinese firms and a Pakistani company.

The signing ceremony featured Ihsan Ullah, Wapda’s General Manager (Hydel Development), and Nabeel Tahir, an authorized representative of the joint venture, who signed on behalf of their respective organizations. The event was attended by several dignitaries, includingWapda Chairman Lt. Gen. Sajjad Ghani (retd), Member (Power) Jamil Akhtar, other officers, representatives from Agence Française de Développement (AFD), consultants and contractors.

The rehabilitation project, supported financially by AFD, France, aims to enhance the capacity of the Dargai Hydel Power Station. The project is scheduled to be completed within three years, after which the power station will generate 22 MW of green, clean hydel electricity, contributing 130 million units of low-cost electricity annually to the National Grid.

Originally constructed in 1952, the Dargai Hydel Power Station has been operational for 72 years and now requires significant rehabilitation to maintain its functionality. This project is part of Wapda’s broader strategy to optimize hydropower resources in Pakistan by constructing new hydropower projects and upgrading existing ones, thereby increasing the proportion of environmentally friendly and low-cost hydel electricity in the national grid.