Bhasha Dam to recover cost in 5 years: Wapda chief

Published: October 10, 2009

LAHORE - Bhasha Dam would recover its cost within five years period of its commissioning, said Chairman WAPDA Shakeel Durrani on Friday.
He was addressing the members of Lahore Economic Journalists Association (LEJA) here at WAPDA Auditorium. President LEJA Mansoor Ahmad, General Secretary M Sudhir Chaudhry and senior officers of WAPDA were present on the occasion. The WAPDA is having no problem in obtaining finances for its 20 water reservoir and hydro-electricity projects worth Rs 984 billion because each of these project has the ability to generate surplus income after servicing its loans. The chairman said, of these 20 projects Bhasha Dam could be termed as the most ambitious as well as the most commercially viable project. He said the tender for awarding contract for the Karakurum Highway bypass would be opened next week while the work on the actual dam would start next year.
He said this $11.3b project will be the largest ever development project in Pakistan. He said the beauty of the project is that it would produce electricity worth $2b per year besides adding 10pc in the GDP by adding huge land for irrigation besides increasing the generation capacity at Tarbela, Ghazi Brotha and Chashma.
Regarding the safety of Bhasha Dam chairman WAPDA said that global experts have confirmed that the dam site is 25 kilometres away from the earth quake prone area.
He said generally a site 5 kilometre away is considered as safe. In fact, he said, hydro-electric cum irrigation dams recover their cost very rapidly. Presently, he added,Tarbela dam is paying back the same amount every year that was spent on its construction.


http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-n...apda-chief