The Dasu Hydropower Project has achieved a significant milestone with the construction of the first of two detour tunnels, which have securely rerouted the strong river Indus from its natural flow. The press release stated that the river is currently flowing through a 1.33 km tunnel with a width of 20 meters and a height of 23 meters.
To mark this historic event, the General Manager and Project Director of the Dasu Hydropower Project, along with officials from contractors and consultants, as well as several engineers and laborers, were in attendance.
WAPDA Chairman Engr. Lt. Gen. Sajjad Ghani (retd.) praised the development team on this achievement. According to the press release, the project’s diversion system includes two tunnels, namely tunnel A and tunnel B.
Tunnel B is already complete and can divert water from the Indus river during the lean season. Tunnel A, which is 1.5 kilometers long, 20 meters wide, and 23 meters high, will be completed by mid-April to accommodate the increasing flow of water during the high-flow season.
The Dasu Hydropower Project is a crucial component of WAPDA’s strategy to produce low-cost and eco-friendly electricity. The project is being developed across the Indus River, upstream of Dasu town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)’s Upper Kohistan region.
The project’s overall installed power generation capacity will be 4,320 MW, with stage-I of 2,160 MW slated to commence power generation in 2026. After stage II is completed, it will add 9 billion units of electricity to the National Grid.
When all stages are finished, the Dasu Hydropower Project will have the greatest annual energy output in Pakistan, generating an average of 21 billion units per year. Work on the starting dam has already begun, which will eventually lead to the project’s primary dam.
