Wapda hires contractor for Warsak hydropower station

LAHORE: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has awarded the Rs868 million contract of consultancy services for Warsak hydroelectric power station to a Turkish-led joint venture, a statement said on Tuesday.

The contract was awarded through an international competitive bidding for the 2nd rehabilitation of the power station – on River Kabul at about 30-kilometre from Peshawar – to a joint venture, comprising of four firms led by Dolsar, an engineering firm from Turkey.

General Manager (Hydel) Development Muhammad Arshad Chaudhry and Dolsar representative Irfan Aker signed the contract on behalf of Wapda and the joint venture, respectively. 

Wapda is executing second rehabilitation project of Warsak hydropower station to regain its generation capacity, which has decreased to 193MW from 243MW due to aging factor of the electro-mechanical equipment. 

“Wapda has been vigorously implementing a least-cost energy generation plan to add low-priced hydroelectricity to the system to overcome electricity shortages in the country,” the statement said. “This plan aims at optimal utilisation of the indigenous hydropower resources. In addition to constructing new projects, Wapda has also been rehabilitating and up-grading its aging hydropower stations, including the Warsak, under the plan.”

The rehabilitation works are planned to be carried out with an approved PC-I cost of Rs22.25 billion with the objective to overcome the aging problems, regain the capacity loss of 50MW with reliable annual energy generation of 1.14 billion units, upgrade and modernise the old system and achieve another life cycle of 30 to 40 years. 

German financial institution KfW and French Development Agency are providing loan to the tune of 40 million euros each, while European Investment Bank is giving 50 million euros for the rehabilitation.

Warsak is the first ever main hydropower project executed in Pakistan after independence. The first phase of the Warsak dam and hydropower station was completed in 1960-61, consisting of the dam, irrigation tunnels, four generating units with cumulative capacity of 160MW and switchyard and transmission line. 

In the second phase, two more generating units of about 83MW were added in 1980-81 to raise the installed capacity of the hydropower station to 243MW.

The first rehabilitation was carried out during 1996-2006 to stabilise civil structure and recover lost generation of about 70MW.