LAHORE: Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has signed a contract with the China Railway First Group (CRFG) for the construction of a housing colony for the people who displaced after the construction of Dasu hydropower project and a museum with the cost of Rs571.95 million.
The statement said the contract includes construction of three sites for the resettlement of the project affectees, belonging to Choochang village, and development of an open-air museum at archaeological site of Shatial – 60 kilometres west of Chilas in Gilgit Baltistan – to conserve pre-historic rock carvings. The contract is scheduled to be completed in one and a half years.
General Manager Haji Muhammad Farooq Ahmed and Deputy Director Zhang Yong signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations in a ceremony held at Wapda House.
Wapda Chairman Zafar Mahmood, Member (Water) Muhammad Shoaib Iqbal, Member (Power) Badr-ul-Munir Murtiza, Member (Finance) Anwar-ul-Haq, Managing Director (Administration) Muhammad Ashraf Khan, Wapda Secretary Amer Ahmad, senior officers and representatives of the project consultants and the contractor participated in the ceremony.
The federal government is implementing Dasu hydropower project in two stages.
The World Bank is financing stage-I of the project with an International Development Association (IDA) credit of $588.4 million and an IDA partial credit guarantee of $460 million.
The work on 2,160-megawatt stage-I is scheduled to be completed in five years and will contribute more than 12 billion units of cheap, affordable and environment-friendly electricity to the national grid every year.
