lahore
 Wapda has decided to submit PC-I of 1410-MW Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project.
The project amounting to $795.8 million will be submitted to the Ministry of Water and Power which will seek its approval from the Planning Commission.
This decision was made in the Authority’s meeting held at Wapda House on Wednesday. The meeting, presided over by the Chairman Zafar Mahmood, was attended by the Member (Water) Muhammad Shoaib Iqbal, Member (Power) Badrul Munir Murtiza, Member (Finance) Anwar-ul-Haq and Secretary Wapda Syed Khalid Akhlaq Gilani. The Project authorities and representatives of the consultants were also present on the occasion.  Earlier, a detailed presentation was made on the PC-I of the project in the meeting by the General Manager (Tarbela Dam Project) Iqbal Masood Siddiqui. The Authority had a detailed discussion on the cost estimations quoted in the PC-I with a view to ensure that the cost is accurate and in accordance with the relevant parameters. It was noted that revision of PC-I of the projects results in escalation of the cost, and delays their scheduled-completion. The Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project is a part of the least-cost hydel power generation plan of the Federal Government, being executed by Wapda on priority. The project is like a low-hanging fruit, benefits of which may be accrued in a very short span of time as the project will be completed before the high-flows season of 2018. As per details of the project, the existing Tunnel No. 5 of the Tarbela Dam will be converted into power tunnel without affecting the irrigation release capabilities. As many as three units with generation capacity of 470 MW each will be installed to generate 1410 MW electricity during summer season. It is a low-risk and high-reward project aimed at providing more than 1.8 billion units of the lost-cost hydel electricity to the national grid per annum. The project’s Financial Internal Rate of Return (FIRR) has been estimated at 13.5 percent.
The installed capacity of the existing 3478 MW-Tarbela Hydel Power Station will rise to 4888 MW after completion of the under-construction Tarbela 4th Extension and 6298 MW after completion of the Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project.