Location Punjab, Pakistan Opening date 2020 Owner(s) Karot Power Company Construction began January 2016 | Status Under construction Construction cost $2 billion (estimated) Height 96 m Impound Jhelum River | |
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Official name Karot Hydropower Project Similar Jhelum River, Suki Kinari Hydropower Project, Gulpur Hydropower Project, Patrind Hydropower Plant, Quaid‑e‑Azam Solar Park | ||
The Karot Hydropower Project is an under construction run-of-river concrete-core rockfill gravity dam in Pakistan with an installed capacity of 720 MW that is being developed as part of the $46 billion China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, and is expected to be completed in 2020.
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The Karot project is being developed by Karot Power Company comprising Three Gorges South Asia Investment Limited, a subsidiary of China Three Gorges Corporation, China-CTGC and Associated Technologies of Pakistan. It is the first hydropower project financed by China’s Silk Road Project.
After completion, the company will run and maintain the project for 30 years at a levelised tariff of 7.57 cents per unit after which it will be transferred to the Punjab government at a notional price of Rs.1.
Background
The Jhelum River is the largest river of Indus Basin River System, and its hydropower potential was identified by various studies carried out by international agencies, with the first report issued by the Canadian Consultant group MONENCO in 1983, followed by a 1994 study by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) that formally proposed the Karot Hydropower Project.
Location
The Karot Hydropower Project is planned on Jhelum River near Karot Village some 1.7 kilometers upstream of Karot Bridge and 74 km upstream of Mangla Dam. The Project site is accessible through the road from Islamabad – Kahuta – Kotli Road approximately 29 kilometers from Kahuta village, and 65 kilometers from Islamabad. Groundbreaking on the project took place on January 10, 2016.
Project details
The major project features include construction of concrete gravity 91 meters high dam with a crest length of 320 meters near the village of Gohra. The dam's reservoir will be approximately 152 million cubic meters in volume, with a length of 27 kilometers. 72 homes and 58 businesses are expected to require relocation as a result of construction, while 2.8 kilometers of the Karot-Kotli road, and 8.9 kilometers of the Azad Pattan-Kahuta road will need relocation.
The power intake structure will be constructed on right bank of the river immediately upstream of Dam site and will divert the water into headrace tunnels entering into Cavern Powerhouse. The water will be discharged back to River Jhelum through tail-race channel located at right bank of the River Jhelum immediately downstream of Karot village. The dam will generate mean annual energy 3,436 GWh, and will connect to Pakistan's national electricity grid.
On September 28, 2016, the federal and Azad Jammu and Kashmir governments signed an implementation agreement with a Chinese consortium for development and operation on river Jhelum at a levelised tariff of 7.57 cents per unit for 30 years.
Financing
Total costs for the project are estimated to be $2 billion, and will be funded by China's Silk Road Fund. The Export-Import Bank of China and China Development Bank will issue loans to the Karot Power Company, which is a subsidiary of China's Three Gorges Corporation. it will be built on a "Build-Own-Operate-Transfer" basis for 30 years, after which ownership will be turned over to the government of Pakistan.