Dasu Kohistan: The Indus River has been successfully diverted after the completion of one of the two diversion tunnels in the Dasu Hydropower Project under construction in Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Instead of its natural course, the river now flows through a 1.33 kilometer (km) long diversion tunnel with a width of 20 meters (m) and a height of 23 meters.
As a result, construction activities have been initiated on the starter dam, leading to the construction of the main dam of the Dasu Hydropower Project.
The diversion of the mighty river was witnessed by the General Manager and Project Director of the project, representatives of contractors and consultants as well as a number of engineers and workers.
Meanwhile, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Lieutenant General (retd) Sajjad Ghani congratulated the project management for achieving this milestone.
The diversion system of Dasu Hydropower Project consists of two tunnels – Tunnel A and Tunnel B. Of these, the latter is full, with a discharge capacity sufficient to divert water from the Indus during the current lean flow season.
The 1.5 km long Tunnel A with a width of 20 meters and a height of 23 meters will also be ready by mid-April this year to increase water flow during peak flow season.
This project is an important component of WAPDA’s plan to generate low-cost, green and clean energy.
The 4320 MW Dasu Hydropower Project is planned to be completed in two phases.
WAPDA is currently constructing its Phase-I with an installed generation capacity of 2160 MW and an annual energy production of 12 billion units and is expected to start generating power in 2026.
The 2160 MW Phase II, when commissioned, will also supply nine billion units to the national grid.
On completion of both the phases, Daso will become the project with the highest annual power generation (ie 21 billion units per year on average) in Pakistan.
