Mangla refurbishment project to add 310MW to national grid

LAHORE: The Mangla refurbishment project will increase the generation capacity of Mangla hydel power station to 1,310-megawatt from 1,000MW.
The government officials told this to Zafar Mahmood, chairman of Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) during his visit to Mangla dam site.
Chairman Mahmood said there is a dire need of injecting low-cost hydroelectric power to the national grid to mitigate electricity shortages and reduce electricity tariff.
Therefore, he added that it is imperative that Mangla refurbishment project, which is being implemented by the WAPDA, is complete on time.
The project will be completed in three phases with an approved PC-1 amounting to Rs.52,224 million.
The annual installed generation capacity of the power station will increase to 1,632 million units after the project’s completion.
Mahmood directed the concerned authorities to strictly follow the criterion jointly devised by all the stakeholders for filling the reservoir, referring to the high flows and the present water level in Mangla lake, which is 1,236.7 feet.
Last year, the raised Mangla dam was filled to its maximum level of 1,242 feet, providing about three million acres feet of additional water for irrigation in addition to generating additional 620 million units of low-cost hydropower.
Mangla Dam General Manager briefed the chairman about the mechanism being adopted for filling the reservoir with special reference to the floods in the other western rivers, namely Chenab and Indus.
WAPDA chief also visited Mangla reservoir rim at Khaliqabad along with WAPDA Member (Power) Badr-ul-Munir Murtiza, Mangla Dam General Manager Ghulam Sarwar Memon and other senior officers.
Mangla hydel power station generated 6,496 million units of electricity in fiscal year of 2014/15 and 5,876 million units in 2013/14.
Mangla dam, which is the first-ever mega multipurpose project in Pakistan comprising water storage and four power generating units of 100MW each, was completed in 1967. Four new units were installed in 1974 and 1981.