Dasu Hydropower Project Grievances of victims to be addressed: Wapda chairman

MANSEHRA: Wapda chairman Lt Gen (retd) Sajjad Ghani on Thursday said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had constituted a committee to address the issues related to the Enhanced Self-Managed Relocation (ESMR) package and other concerns of families whose land was acquired for the Dasu Hydropower Project.

“The prime minister has formed a committee to hear your grievances and resolve them,” he told a jirga of the affected families in Zaid Khawar in Dasu, the district headquarters of Upper Kohistan.

The Wapda chairman urged the participants of the jirga to call off their sit-in, assuring them that the committee would take up all demands and make decisions accordingly.He said that matters related to payments under the ESMR package and the implementation of Local Area Development Schemes (LADS) would also be taken up by the committee.

“The Wapda is fully committed to the socio-economic development of the people living in the project area,” Ghani said, adding that a substantial amount was being spent on resettlement, environmental management and social uplift in the region.

The jirga subsequently announced the end of a two-week long sit-in, expressing their support for the timely completion of the mega energy project.Earlier in the day, the Wapda chairman visited the Dasu Hydropower Project site and reviewed the ongoing construction on the main dam and powerhouse.

“We have achieved critical milestones and are on track to begin electricity generation by 2027,” he added. The project team, including the general manager Dasu Hydropower Project, consultants, and contractors briefed the chairman on the progress made across various work fronts.

They said construction was ongoing at 20 different sites, with several key targets recently completed and more milestones approaching completion.Notably, excavation of the right and left abutments of the main dam has been completed.

They said that excavation of the main dam’s foundation was underway and was expected to be completed by August 2025. Roller Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) placement for the dam will likely begin in December this year.

Excavation of the powerhouse was expected to be completed by January 2026, while the 25-kilometre-long KKH-1, featuring seven tunnels and three bridges, is projected to be completed by February 2026.

Electricity generation from the project is scheduled to commence in 2027.The 4,320 Dasu Hydropower Project is planned in two stages. Currently, WAPDA is constructing Stage I, which has a capacity of 2,160 MW and is expected to generate 12 billion units of clean, green, and affordable electricity annually.