Dasu hydropower project's transmission line: WB all set to extend $700 million additional financing

The World Bank is all set to extend $ 700 million additional financing for transmission line for Dasu Hydropower Project. This has been conveyed by World Bank Country Director, Patchamuthu Illangovan in a letter to Secretary Ministry of Water Resources, Muhammad Ashraf.

"Preparations for an IBRD loan of $ 700 million for Dasu Transmission Line (DTL) are proceedings well. The World Bank plans to appraise the project from December 12, 2019 and to negotiate in the last week of January 2020. The project PC-1 has already been approved", he added.

The World Bank appreciated the Water Resources Ministry and other stakeholders for extending support to get approval for the revised land rates and compensation for the Dasu land acquisition, which was approved by the Federal Cabinet on October 29, 2019.

The Bank argued that the decision was of great significance for the project. The revised rates were notified by the Deputy Commissioner on November 27, 2019 and the Chief Secretary KPK is helping to ensure that the remaining process of land acquisition is completed appropriately and in a timely manner.

The key actions agreed for Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) follow up during a wrap-up meeting on November 20, 2019 are as follows: (i) land acquisition-at the wrap up meeting, Senior Member of Board of Revenue (SMBR) KP, Commissioner Hazara, Deputy Commissioner Kohistan and Land Acquisition Collector (LAC), Dasu, had agreed on a detailed timeline and plan for acquiring the next batch of 1,300 acres (batch 2) of land immediately.

"I would like to emphasise that the remaining land should also be acquired in the next six months. For that purpose, an agreement should be reached with the DC/LAC on detailed plans by component for acquisition of remaining lands under batches 3 and 4," he continued.

Security issues-World Banks says as decided in the 14th PSC meeting, security issues in the DHP-1 area should be improved by deploying Frontier Corps for safety and security of the public infrastructure in the project area, project assets as well as project staff, consultants and staff of contractors. As decided in the mission wrap-up, Ministry of Water Resources will submit a renewed request to the Ministry of Interior to deploy FC. The Bank has asked the MoWR to do it on a priority basis as the number of expatriates is increasing as project activities are growing.

Occupational health and safety-World Bank has reminded the authorities that a fatal accident occurred on August 29, 2019 and strongly emphasized the importance of highest commitment from the Government of Pakistan. The World Bank believes that Ministry of Water Resources and Wapda will ensure that good practices are followed and communicated by leadership for occupational health and safety for all work activities in Dasu Project.

Ministry of Water Resources has also obtained clearance of increased land purchase price from National Accountability Bureau (NAB) fearing that any payment of higher price to Dasu projects affectees can be problematic for the authorities.

Dasu Hydropower Project is run of the river project with total installed capacity of 4,320MW (largest so far) comprising two phases - of 2,160MW each. The project is being constructed on the Indus River, 74 kilometres downstream of Bhasha Dam, in District Kohistan (Upper), KP. PC-1 envisages construction of stage-1 (2160MW) which also includes land acquisition, resettlement of affectees, construction of offices, colonies, project access relocation of KKH( 64km) as well as other construction activities.

Following a lengthy process of negotiations and considerations of various proposals, the project was again submitted to CDWP/ECNEC) at a revised cost of Rs 36.914 billion for land acquisition and built-up property, increasing the overall cost of Dasu Hydropower Project (stage-1) to Rs 510.980 billion.