Lahore: The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) held a road show in Karachi to appraise the local banks about investment potential of Dasu Hydropower Project with a view to seeking their collaboration for funding of the project.
The heads of investment of as many as 16 leading local banks participated in the road show. WAPDA team headed by its Member (Finance) and Member (Water) introduced the project with emphasis on possible modalities of investment in the project. It highlighted the vast lucrative investment opportunities in the project. It was informed that WAPDA was seeking an investment of around US $ 1 billion from the local banks that may take benefit of the opportunity by constituting their consortium to invest in the project through workable instrument.
The participants were told that World Bank has provided $ 588 million for Dasu Hydropower Project as first tranche and will provide $533 million as second tranche. In addition, World Bank will also help raise $920 million from the international and local market by offering its guarantee.
The local banks, showing their keen interest, appreciated the WAPDA’s initiative. They said that the banks would thoroughly examine the various proposals presented in the road show and respond accordingly.
It is pertinent to mention here that Dasu Hydropower Project is a run of river project at the Indus River located seven kilometers upstream of Dasu Town in District Kohistan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). The total installed capacity of the project is 4320 MW and it will be constructed in two stages of 2160 MW each. The Stage-I of the project, to be completed in a period of five years, will contribute 12 billion units of low-cost and environment-friendly hydel electricity to the national grid per annum.
