World Bank approved 1 billion dollars for the Dasu Hydropower Project this year.

SindhTimeNews 2024-06-11

42 1 minute read

World Bank approves 1 billion dollars financing for Dasu Hydropower Project

The World Bank approved 1 billion US dollars for the Dasu Hydropower Project.

The World Bank has approved 1 billion dollars in financing for the Dasu Hydropower Project (DHP) in the upper Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank approved 1 billion dollars in a second round of additional financing for the Dasu Hydropower Stage I (DHP I) Project.

This additional financing will support the development of hydropower electricity supply across the country, improve access to socio-economic services for local communities in KPK, and increase the Water and Power Development Authority’s (Wapda) capacity to prepare the best hydropower projects for the future.

Najy Benhassine, the World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan, stated that Pakistan’s energy sector is suffering from critical challenges to achieving affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy,” the statement was quoted as saying.

Benhassine asserted that, with a tiny step, the DHP will contribute to greening the energy sector and lowering the cost of electricity in Pakistan. Furthermore, he said that the Dasu project site is one of the best hydropower sites in the world and affects the results in the energy sector very much, as expected for the Pakistani energy sector.

Liden said that this additional financing would smooth the extension of the electricity supply, possibly saving Pakistan an estimated 1.8 billion dollars annually by replacing imported fuels and counterbalancing around 5 million tons of carbon dioxide.

According to the Country Director of the World Bank in Pakistan, the Dasu project will have a mounted capability of 4,320–5,400 megawatts after completion. The project is being built in its initial stages. Dasu Hydropower Plant DHP-I has a capacity of 2,160 megawatts (MW) and is expected to generate 12,225 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year of low-cost renewable energy. Dasu Hydropower Plant DHP-II will add 9,260–11,400 GWh per year from the same dam.