Tarbela 5th Extension Hydel Power Station Project to start generation by July 2025

ISLAMABAD-Tarbela 5th Extension Hydel Power Station Project (T5) will start electricity generation by July 2025.

This was told to Chairman WAPDA Engineer Lt Gen (r) Sajjad Ghani who visited Tarbela 4th 5th Extension Hydel Power Station (T4T5) on Friday.

Chairman WAPDA inspected operation and maintenance (OM) activities of the power station of T4 project, commissioned in 2018, said a statement issued here.

Sajjad Ghani also visited under-construction Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project (T5) to review construction activities on the sites.

The General Manager Tarbela Dam briefed the chairman about progress on the T5 project. Consequent upon the permission accorded by IRSA for closure of Tunnel No.5, construction activities are being carried out simultaneously at five sites of T5 including intake, power house and switch yard. Electricity generation from the project is scheduled for July 2025 with completion of its first unit. Unit No.2 and 3 are likely to be completed in August and September 2025 respectively, it was further briefed.

T5 is being constructed on Tunnel No. 5 of Tarbela Dam with approved PC-I of $807 million. World Bank is providing $390 million, while Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is providing $300 million for construction of the project. Cumulative generation capacity of the project stands at 1530MW with three generating units of 510MW each. The project will provide 1.347 billion units of green, clean and low-cost hydel electricity to the national grid on the average every year. With completion of T5, installed capacity at Tarbela Dam will rise from 4888 MW to 6418 MW. 

Meanwhile, passing out ceremony of the first batch, comprising 150 WAPDA security personnel, was held at the newly-established WAPDA Security Force Training School, Tarbela. 

Chairman WAPDA was the chief guest. The chairman witnessed the march past and skills’ demonstration by the trained security staff. He also gave away prizes to the personnel, who earned distinction during their training.

Addressing the ceremony, the chairman said, “We have been revamping WAPDA Security Force to make it an independent and fully equipped security apparatus to cater for security needs of WAPDA projects. I am confident that WAPDA Security Training School will go a long way in achieving this fundamental objective.” The chairman also thanked SSG Headquarters for providing support in imparting training to WAPDA security staff.

It is worth mentioning that WAPDA Security Force Training School has recently been established at Tarbela with a view to forging a comprehensive, robust and pro-active security mechanism to counter varying internal and external threats to WAPDA installations and projects.

Article source: https://www.nation.com.pk/21-Jan-2023/tarbela-5th-extension-hydel-power-station-project-to-start-generation-by-july-2025