Just in June this year, Pakistani Prime Minister imran khan just inspected the Dasu Hydropower Project. At the scene, he highly praised the efforts made by engineers and workers in China and Pakistan, and said that the project is of vital importance to Pakistan’s development and will meet the country’s power demand at reasonable electricity prices.
Imran khan visited Dasu Hydropower Station in June, as shown in Dawn.
Dasu Hydropower Station is located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (Cape Province for short), about 350 kilometers away from Islamabad, with a total installed capacity of 4,320 MW. The civil engineering of the project is undertaken by China Gezhouba Group.
On June 18th, Pakistani Prime Minister imran khan visited the site of Dasu Hydropower Project and delivered a speech at the intake tunnel of the dam.
According to Dawn, in his speech, imran khan praised the efforts made by engineers and workers of China and Pakistan to build the Dasu hydropower project, saying that the dam is very important for Pakistan’s development, because it will meet the country’s electricity demand at a very reasonable price.
He said that under the Pakistani government’s policy of diversified power production, despite the global outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the dam construction work is still proceeding in an orderly manner, in which the land acquisition for the dam has been completed and the rest of the construction work is carried out under the supervision of COVID-19’s standard operating procedures (SOP) for epidemic prevention and control.
"Our economy is improving rapidly, and cheap electricity will meet industrial and domestic needs, thus helping the country embark on the road to prosperity."
Imran khan said that Dasu Hydropower Station is very important for Pakistan to cope with the imminent water and electricity shortage, because expensive electricity will lead to rising commodity prices and inflation. With the help of Dasu Hydropower Station, Pakistan is not far from being able to provide people with cheap electricity.
He also said that Pakistan is fortunate to have a number of hydropower projects under construction. If completed, these projects will not only improve economic growth and industrial and agricultural productivity, but also directly benefit the public.
During imran khan’s visit to Dasu Project, he also interacted with engineers and workers from China, expressed satisfaction with the progress of the work in progress, and praised all China contractors for their efforts to complete the project.
Imran khan delivered a speech, highly praising the efforts made by the contractors in China to complete the project. Video screenshot
According to public information, the first phase of the dam of Dasu Hydropower Station will begin to store water in April 2025, and will gradually provide 2,160 MW of electricity to the State Grid from October 2025. The second phase of the dam will be completed in 2029, when the total installed capacity of the power station will increase to 4,320 MW.
The civil engineering of the project is undertaken by China Gezhouba Group. The joint venture between Central South Institute and GE Electrical and Hydroelectric Equipment (China) Co., Ltd. signed a project contract on November 25, 2019, which is responsible for the design, supply, installation, debugging and test of complete sets of electromechanical equipment projects.
Gezhouba Group evaluated Dasu Hydropower Station as "one of the projects with the greatest technical difficulty, installed capacity and total investment in Pakistan", which will effectively fill the current power gap in Pakistan and be highly valued by the Pakistani government.
Pakistan Hydropower Development Authority (WAP DA) said in 2020 that the first phase of Dasu Hydropower Project is expected to provide 12 billion kWh for the State Grid, and the second phase will provide 9 billion kWh every year.
Pakistan Hydropower Development Bureau said that Dasu Hydropower Station is an important hydropower project for Pakistan and Cape Province. The project will stabilize Pakistan’s economy through low-cost hydropower generation and create a new stage of social and economic development in the province.
Chairman of Pakistan Hydropower Development Bureau visited Dasu Hydropower Station in 2020.
Dasu Hydropower Station under construction, pictured from WeChat WeChat official account "Gezhouba International"
According to the news from the Embassy of China in Pakistan, at about 7: 00 am local time on July 14th, the attendance shuttle bus of Dasu Hydropower Station project in Cape Province, which was built by Chinese enterprises, was exploded on the way to the construction site, causing 9 Chinese personnel and 3 Pakistani personnel to die. The Pakistani side is investigating the reasons.
After the incident, the Embassy of China in Pakistan immediately launched an emergency plan and contacted the Pakistani military, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior and other relevant departments, demanding that Pakistan do its best to rescue and treat at all costs, strengthen the security of Chinese institutions, projects and personnel in Pakistan, and find out the truth of the incident as soon as possible. The Pakistani military has organized rescue at the first time and dispatched helicopters to transport the wounded.
The local government in Pakistan is launching rescue, from CGTN.
The Embassy of China in Pakistan strongly condemned the incident, expressed deep condolences to the victims and sincere condolences to the injured. It will do its best to deal with the aftermath of the incident together with Pakistan, and remind citizens, enterprises and projects in China to attach great importance to it, pay close attention to the local security situation, strengthen the safety of project personnel, take strict precautions and not go out unless necessary.
According to Reuters, Cape Province police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari was quoted as saying that besides China citizens, the attack also killed two Pakistani soldiers and two local people.
The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a notice in official website this afternoon, saying that a shuttle bus carrying China workers leaked gas in Cape Province this morning due to a mechanical failure, which led to an explosion and eventually crashed into the valley (Plugged into a ravine after a mechanical failure Resulting in leakage of gas that caused a blast). "Further investigation is under way."
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