A World Bank team led by Advisor Masood Ahmed and Task Team Leader Gautum Gunjan, along with Chairman WAPDA Sajjad Ghani (Retd) on Tuesday visited the Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project to review the construction progress on key components.
After touring various sites, Chairman Ghani presided over a progress review meeting at the Project Office. The Project Management briefed the Chairman and the World Bank team on the progress at seven key sites, including the intake, tunnel, penstock and outlet, powerhouse, tail race culvert, tail race canal, and switchyard.
Discussions during the meeting covered resource deployment, timelines, and the implementation plan for completing the Project. The Project Management informed that electricity generation is expected to commence in 2025-26.
Chairman Ghani emphasised the importance of timely completion to meet the country’s increasing energy demand with green, clean, and affordable electricity. He urged the consultants and contractors to maximize their efforts to complete the Project by the target date.
Member (Power) WAPDA, GM Tarbela Dam Project, PD Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project, and representatives of the consultants and contractors were present at the meeting.
WAPDA is constructing the Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project on Tunnel No. 5 of Tarbela Dam, with financial assistance from the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank amounting to $390 million and $300 million, respectively. The project will have a cumulative generation capacity of 1530 MW with three generating units of 510 MW each.
It is expected to provide 1.347 billion units of low-cost, environment-friendly hydel electricity to the National Grid annually. With the completion of the Tarbela 5th Extension, the installed capacity at Tarbela Dam will increase from 4888 MW to 6418 MW.
