ISLAMABAD: To meet the foreign financing needs of Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand dams the government is likely to give WAPDA go-ahead for the issuance of $500 million Eurobonds in the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting.
The ECC meeting will be held under the chairmanship of Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Wednesday. According to the agenda of meeting the committee will review the financial cost of Diamer Basha and Mohmand dams and the possible arrangement of financing these projects through local and foreign financial institutions.
The government already awarded a contract worth Rs.442 billion to a joint venture of China Power and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha dam. The total cost of Diamer Basha Dam estimated around $14 billion and it will have a capacity to generate 4800 MW of electricity. The Chinese state-run firm holds 70% and the FWO, a commercial arm of the Armed Forces of Pakistan, 30% share in the consortium. The contract covers the construction of a diversion system, main dam, access bridge and the 21MW Tangir hydropower project.
The eight million acre-feet (MAF) reservoir with 272-metre height will be the tallest roller compact concrete (RCC) dam in the world. It will have a spillway, 14 gates and five outlets for flushing out silt. The diversion system involves two tunnels and a diversion canal — all three having one-kilometre length each. The bridge — a box girder structure — under the contract will be constructed downstream of the dam structure while the 21MW power plant will be built to meet the energy requirements of the project during construction.
The cost of constructing Mohmand Dam has been estimated to be $1.9 billion and it will have a capacity to generate 800 MW of electricity. WAPDA would provide 67 per cent fund for the project while remaining 37 per cent would be provided by the government. The multi-purpose dam will be ready before the flood season of 2024 as work is in full swing.
The contract for civil and electro-mechanical works of Mohmand Dam Project had already been awarded to a joint venture comprising the China Gezhouba Group of Companies (CGGC) of China and DESCON of Pakistan.
