The benefits of the project have been estimated at about Rs 191.7 billion annually. The consultants team, comprising IIJIMA Motohiko, Project Manager-Team Leader, Dasu Hydropower Project, Hiroyasu Kitayama, Chief Material Specialist, Nippon Koei Co, Ltd, Japan, Toshimitsu Tanaka, Nippon Koei Co, Ltd, Japan, Muhammad Munir, Managing Partner Development & Management Consultants (DMC) and Ziaul Hassan, Deputy Project Manager, discussed a number of technical issues with LCCI Senior Vice President Kashif Younis Meher. After listening to the point of view of the visiting team, SVP Kashif Meher said the Lahore chamber was ready to extend every help so that work on the mega hydropower project of national importance could be started at the earliest. He urged the consultants to have regular meetings at the LCCI as it had 18,000 members belonging to all sorts of businesses and they would be ready to facilitate the consultants. When the visiting team discussed the issue regarding provision of Flyash (a residue of coal used in construction of dams), he said that the material could be made available in Pakistan and in this regard the LCCI would do the needful. The Dasu hydropower project is situated at 7 km upstream of Dasu village on the Indus River, 74 km downstream of Diamer Basha Dam and 350 km from Islamabad. The project is located in district Kohistan of Khyber-Pakthunkhwa. Meher said the government's reliance on thermal generation had contracted hydel contribution in the total energy mix. The policy of generating more electricity through thermal power plants resulted in expensive generation that widened the gap between the cost of production and sale. Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had awarded the contract to a joint venture, Dasu Hydropower Consultants, for preparation of a detailed engineering design and construction supervision of the 4,320-megawatt Dasu hydropower project. The joint venture comprises two foreign and three local consulting companies including Nippon Koei of Japan, Dolsar Engineering of Turkey, Development and Management Consultants, National Development Consultants and Pakistan Engineering Services.