Stage-I of the Dasu Hydropower Project (HPP), which has an installed capacity of 2,160 MW, is unlikely to meet its completion deadline of June 2023 and will be delayed until 2026-27.
Land acquisition issues, the pandemic, and incidents of terrorism pushed its expected completion deadline to FY 2026-27, according to data shared by the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).
The WAPDA has requested the NEPRA to allow an extension in the commercial operations date (COD) until 2026-27.
Dasu HPP Stage-I has an installed capacity of 2,160 MW, situated on River Indus. Its PC-I was approved in 2014 but the pace of the work on the project remained slow due to land acquisition issues. Their resolution in 2019 took considerable time and effort, which delayed the project for almost three years. To date, almost 85 percent of the land required for the project has been acquired, including the priority areas required for Main Civil Works. The remaining land falls in the reservoir area, which does not affect the pace of the project and is also expected to be acquired in the next few months.
The work on the developments is almost 50 percent complete, including the Project Colony, access infrastructure, and a dedicated 132 KV Dubair-Dasu transmission line. The Main Civil Works Contract was awarded to M/S China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC), and work on Dasu HPP Stage-I commenced on 23 June 2017, expected to be completed by June 2023.
The E&M Contract was awarded to M/S Power China-General Electronics JV in Feb 2021, with expected completion in March 2026. The pace of work on the Main Civil Works was initially slow, but after the resolution of the land acquisition issues in 2019, work on the project progressed smoothly and gained momentum during the outbreak of COVID-19. This was until 14 July 2021, when a terrorist attack took place on a bus carrying Chinese contractor staff that resulted in several causalities and injuries and led to a complete suspension of work for almost the next four months.
After concrete steps were taken by the WAPDA and the government, M/S CGGC (Main Work Contractor) resumed the halted work on 25 October 2021, albeit in a phased manner. It is expected to get fully mobilized during the first half of 2022. This delay has badly impacted the construction schedule as the major milestone of River Diversion, which was scheduled for November-December 2021, has slipped to December 2022.
Overall, the physical progress achieved currently stands at 12 percent.
