Wapda signs Rs133.18bn deal for Diamer-Bhasha hydro-mechanical works
The contract covers the equipment package for the dam on the Indus in Diamer district; the reports did not name the contractor or a completion date.
Wapda has signed a Rs133.18 billion contract for the hydro-mechanical works of the Diamer-Bhasha dam, according to reports published by Profit, Dawn, Business Recorder and Investify. Dawn's headline put the value at Rs133 billion. None of the reports named the contractor, the length of the construction schedule or the generation capacity tied to the package.
The dam is sited on the Indus in Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan and is among the largest hydropower schemes planned in the country. Hydro-mechanical works cover the equipment that regulates water moving through a dam and its powerhouse, including gates, valves and the steel penstocks that carry water to the turbines.
The signing is one of the main procurement steps for the project. The reports as published did not carry a Wapda statement describing the scope of the package, and the contract value could not be independently confirmed.
Separately, Energy Update reported that Wapda and SCO signed agreements worth Rs14 billion for the Dasu and Chilas Safe City projects. That report did not describe what either project covers, the period over which it will be implemented, or the role of each organisation beyond naming the two signatories.
Chilas is the headquarters of Diamer district in Gilgit-Baltistan. Dasu is in Upper Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the Dasu hydropower project is under construction on the Indus.
Both announcements concern the same stretch of the river. The Diamer-Bhasha site lies in Diamer district, and the Dasu project is upstream in Kohistan. Together with other schemes on the Indus, they account for a large share of the hydropower capacity Pakistan is trying to add as it seeks to reduce the cost of electricity generated from imported fuel.
Details of how the new contracts will be financed, and whether they form part of a previously approved allocation for the two projects, were not given in the reports. Wapda has not said when work under the hydro-mechanical package is expected to begin.
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