Pak gives Chinese firm contracts for dam construction on Indus

ISLAMABAD: Energy-deficient Pakistan has awarded two contracts worth Rs 180 billion to a Chinese firm for the construction of a part of a hydropower project on the Indus river in the northwestern Khyber-pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistan’s Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and China Gezhouba Group Company (CGCC) have signed the agreements for carrying out main civil works in the first stage of the Dasu hydropower project.

This stage of the project, expected to be completed in 2021, would generate 2,160 MW of electricity. The selection of the contractor was through international competitive bidding among prequalified Chinese firms, Dawn reported on Thursday.

The project is being constructed on the Indus river, upstream of Dasu town in Kohistan district of the province.

The World Bank is partially funding the Stage-i, while a major chunk of funds is being arranged by Wapda from its own resources and with the sovereign guarantee of the Pakistan government.

Power Minister Khwaja Mohammad Asif said the project is critical to Pakistan’s energy needs and will herald a new era of affordable electricity generation.

Pakistan faces a huge energy crisis and governments have failed to rapidly augment its electricity generation capacity.

It faces a shortage of up to 8,000 megawatts, according to reports, leading to load shedding for hours in several parts.

Asif said the government would lay foundation stones for two other dams this year.

Wapda chairman Lt Gen (retired) Syed Muzammil Hussain said the total cost of the first phase of the project was estimated at USD 4.2 billion.

Hussain assured the second phase - capable of generating 2,160MW - would not take a long time given the fact that the main dam would already be available and the second stage would involve only setting up a power house at an estimated cost of USD 2 billion. Dasu Project Director Javed Akhtar and CGGC representative Tan Bixuan signed the contracts on behalf of the two firms. BEIRUT: The toll in air strikes thought to have been conducted by a Us-led coalition on a jihadist-held northern Syrian village on Thursday has risen to 23 civilians killed, a monitor said.

“The raids hit the village of Al-matab after midnight and were likely carried out by the coalition,” said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Observatory earlier reported a toll of 14 people killed.

At least eight children and six women were among the dead in Al-matab, held by the Islamic State group.

The village lies near a key road linking Raqa - IS’S de facto capital - to Deir Ezzor city, the capital of the adjacent oil-rich province.

On Monday, fighters from the Us-backed Syrian Democratic Forces cut off that route in a bid to encircle the jihadists in Raqa.

The Us-led coalition has been backing the SDF’S drive for Raqa with air power and hundreds of special operations forces as advisers.

Abdel Rahman said SDF fighters advancing on IS jihadists in Al-matab, which lies about 55 kilometres southeast of Raqa.

The SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, launched its offensive for Raqa in early November and has since seized swathes of territory in northern Syria.

But it is despised by Ankara, who condemns the group’s dominant component - the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) - as “terrorists” because of its links to an outlawed Kurdish militia in Turkey.

Critics say the real number is much higher.