BEIJING – The Karot Hydropower Project worth US$1,780 million under ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will be completed in April 2022.
Up to 88 percent of the work on the Karot Hydropower Project has beencompleted. The hydro power project – the first of its kind under the CPEC –is being built on the River Jhelum, according to a report published byChina Economic Net on Thursday.
The project is being developed on a Build-Own-Operate and Transfer (BOOT)basis at an estimated cost of $1.98bn including a development cost ofUS$1.698bn and interest during construction of US$243m by Karot PowerCompany Private Ltd, comprising of M/s Three Gorges South Asia InvestmentLtd (TGSAIL) and Associated Technologies (Pvt) Ltd of Pakistan.
The project is being constructed on a concrete gravity of 91 meters highdam with a crest length of 320 meters near the village of Gohra. The dam’sreservoir will be approximately 152m cubic metres in volume, with a lengthof 27 kilometres.
Around 72 homes and 58 businesses were expected to be relocated due toproject construction while 2.8-km of the Karot-Kotli road and 8.9-km of theAzad Pattan-Kahuta road were expected to need relocation.
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The investment amounted to $1,780 million while 5,000 local people weredirectly employed for its construction.
The 720-megawatt Karot Hydropower Project was initially due to be completedin 2020. It has the capability to generate 3.249 billion units of cleanelectricity per year for the national grid.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) had in February2016 approved the project’s leveling tariff at 7.57 cents per unit for 30years at an exchange rate of Rs 101.6 per US dollar. Its groundbreakingceremony was held in January that year.
