ISLAMABAD  – World Bank is providing 90 per cent financial assistance for Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower project which would complete in 2016 and generate 1,410MW additional electricity.
An official source told APP here Monday that the contract for civil works of the 1,410MW Tarbela 4th Extension Project is likely to be awarded in March 2013, as pre-qualification process of the construction firms almost has already been completed. He said that three units of each 470MW would be installed on tunnel-4 of the Tarbela Dam project.
Final design report of the project has been received and the estimated cost of the project was around $ 928.900 million, he said and added that a loan agreement amounting to $ 840 million has already been signed with World Bank on April 12, he said.
The source said the balance amount Rs.17,736 million would be financed by WAPDA/government. Tarbela Hydel Power Station power generation capacity will rise to 4,888MW from the existing 3,478MW with implementation of its 4th extension,”the source said. Project is a part of least-cost power generation strategy of Wapda aimed at adding a sizeable quantum of electricity to the national grid and improving the ratio of hydel electricity in the overall system to stabilise the power tariff.
On completion, Tarbela 4th Extension Project will provide about 3.84 billion units of electricity to the national grid every year. Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at more than Rs.30 billion.
The project will pay back its cost in a short span of just three years.