ECNEC approves Rs486bn Dasu, Rs9.5bn Harpo power projects

ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Friday granted approval for stage one of Dasu hydro power project worth Rs486 billion and the 34.5 mega watt (MW) Harpo power project in Skardu worth Rs9.5 billion. Chaired by finance minister Ishaq Dar, ECNEC approved ministry of planning, development and reform’s summary for Dasu Hydro Power Project (Stage-I) at the rationalised cost of Rs486.093.3 billion with FEC of Rs218.547.5 billion in Upper Kohistan, Khyber-Puktunkhwa. Dasu project is designed to generate 4,320 MW of power in two stages (generating 2,160MW each) on River Indus. Stage I of the project will see the construction of 2,160MW Dasu hydro power project and acquisition of land for resettlement, construction of offices, colonies, project access roads and pre-construction activities. This stage is expected to be completed in a period of five years. Once complete, it is expected that the project will generate electricity at a unit cost of Rs2.14/kWh. The ECNEC also constituted a committee comprising representatives from ministries of planning, development and reform, water and power, finance, water and power development authority (Wapda) and government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to monitor the issues relating to land acquisition. It was further decided that the ministry of water and power will confirm that NOCs from the concerned EPA is obtained in time. Harpo power project The other project approved in Friday’s meeting was the 34.5MW Harpo hydro power project which will be built at a modified cost of Rs9.5 billion with FEC of Rs6.1 billion over four years in Skardu. The location of the project is at Harpo Lungma, District Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan with Wapda the executing agency. AFD from France and Kfw from Germany will finance the project through a loan of €70 million. The remaining cost will be met using Wapda’s own resources. In addition to the construction of the power project, a 132KV double circuit transmission line from project site to Skardu will be built. The meeting was attended by minister for water and power Khwaja Mohammad Asif, Minister for Information Pervaiz Rshid, , minister for planning and development Ahsan Iqbal, minister for industries and production Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, minister of state for information technology Anusha Rehman, minister of state for petroleum Jam Kamal Khan, chairman privatisation commission Mohammad Zubair.