Karot Hydro Power Project : Another gift of CPEC
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MIRPUR: (APP) AJK and adjoining Punjab province would be blessed with 720 megawatt Karot Hydropower project in near future at Karot village of Rawalpindi district bordering Holar village of Kotli district of AJK, official sources said.
Secretary Electricity and Power Development Organization of AJK government, Fiyyaz Ali Abbasi told APP Saturday that the mega project will cost $1.6 billion to be funded by China's Silk Road Fund. The Export-Import Bank of China and China Development Bank will issue loans to the Karot Power Company, which is a subsidiary of China's Three Gorges Corporation.
"All the stakeholders including sponsors as well as the government of Pakistan, Govt. of Punjab and the AJK government successfully reached the negotiations Friday at a high level meeting at the PPI (Private Power Infra-structural Board) over the construction of Karot Hydropower project to be built in the private sector on BOOT- "Build-Own-Operate-Transfer" basis, Fiyyaz Ali Abbasi, said.
"Negotiations amongst all the stakeholders (sponsors, Govt of Pakistan, Govt of Punjab and Govt of AJK) on Karot Hydropower project got completed at PPIB in Islamabad late Friday," Abbasi stated after he represented AJK government in the meeting.
Elaborating the salient features of the project Abbasi underlined that both AJK and Punjab will share the Water Use Charges paid by the company on 50-50 basis for a period of 30 years.
"After completion of this stipulated period it will be transferred to Govt of Punjab which will pay 100% Water Use charges to AJK", he said.
Fayyaz Ali Abbasi continued that the Karot Hydropower Project had been planned to be constructed on Jhelum River near Karot/ Holar Village (located on the border on Punjab and AJK, some 1.7 kilometers upstream of Karot/Holar Bridge and 74 km upstream of Mangla Dam.
The Project site is accessible through the road from Islamabad- Kahuta - Kotli Road approximately 29 kilometers from Kahuta village, and 65 kilometers from Islamabad. Groundbreaking on the project took place on January 10, 2016, he added.
Highlighting details he said that the major project features included construction of concrete gravity 91 meters high dam with a crest length of 320 meters near the village of Gohra.
The dam's reservoir will be approximately 152 million cubic meters in volume, with a length of 27 kilometers.
However 72 homes and 58 businesses are expected to require relocation as a result of construction, while 2.8 kilometers of the Karot-Kotli road, and 8.9 kilometers of the Azad Pattan-Kahuta road will need relocation.
The power intake structure will be constructed on right bank of the river immediately upstream of Dam site and will divert the water into headrace tunnels entering into Cavern Powerhouse.
The water will be discharged back to River Jhelum through tail-race channel located at right bank of the River Jhelum immediately downstream of Karot village.
The dam will generate mean annual energy 3,436 GWh, and will connect to Pakistan's national electricity grid.
Fayyaz Ali Abbasi said that the formal Implementation Agreement Signing Ceremony on the project will be hosted in Muzaffarabad soon with the Prime Minister of AJK Raja Farooq Haider Khan to be the chief guest to grace the ceremony.
