Neelum–Jhelum Hydropower Plant

Background

After being approved in 1989, the design was improved, increasing the tunnel length and generation capacity. The project was intended to begin in 2002 and be completed in 2008 but this time-frame experienced significant delays to rising costs and funding. Additionally, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake which devastated the region required a redesign of the project to conform to more stringent seismic standards.

On 7 July 2007, the Chinese consortium CGGC-CMEC (Gezhouba Group and China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation) were awarded the contract to construct the dam and power station. The construction contract was settled by the end of the year and in January 2008, the letter of commencement was issued. On 8 February, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf announced that the project would begin. In October 2011, the diversion tunnel intended to divert the Neelum River around the dam site was completed.

On 1 November, Pakistan's Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani publicly stated his concern for the project's delay. At its appraisal in 1989, it was to cost $167 million USD (2011) and after another redesign in 2005, that cost rose to $935 million USD (2011). Currently costs have risen to $2.89 billion USD (2011). The project is being constructed under the supervision of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and funding is being achieved through the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Company, taxes, bond offerings, Middle Eastern and Chinese banks. WAPDA has successfully secured loans from a consortium of Chinese banks and from Middle East. Tunnel-boring machines (TBM) were brought to help speed up the excavation of the remaining tunnels. They became operational in February 2013. In mid-2014 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the construction site in mid-2014 and hoped to have at least one generator operational by mid-2015. The project was 66 percent complete as of August 2013 while at the same time the diversion tunnel was 75 percent complete. US$475 million in funding was still not secured by the Economic Affairs Division at that time. On 24 December 2014 a wall near the diversion tunnel's intake collapsed, killing four workers including a Chinese engineer. On November 05, 2016, the project entered into terminal phase with 100 percent perfect design while achieving 85.5 percent progress and is heading towards completion despite all delays in release of funds, weather conditions, non-availability of power during early stage of construction and delays in land acquisition.

Impact of India's Kishanganga Project

In 2007, India began construction on a run-of-the-river power station on the Kishanganga (Neelum) River upstream of the Neelum–Jhelum Dam. The Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant operates in a similar sense as the Neelum–Jhelum, using a dam to divert the Kishanganga (Neelum) River to a power station before it is discharged into Wular Lake which is fed by the Jhelum River. The Kishanganga Project will divert a portion of the Neelum River from Pakistan which will reduce power generation at the Neelum–Jhelum Hydropower Plant. India states the project will divert 10 percent of the river's flow while other estimates stand as high as 33 percent. Nevertheless, water flow below the Neelum–Jhelum Dam, in Pakistan's Neelum Valley, is expected to be minimal as both projects are diverting water to the Jhelum River. This has the potential to have adverse impacts in the Neelum Valley.

In 2010, Pakistan appealed to the Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration (CoA), complaining that the Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant violates the Indus River Treaty by increasing the catchment of the Jhelum River and depriving Pakistan of its water rights. In June 2011, the CoA visited both the Kishanganga and Neelum–Jhelum Projects. In August 2011, they ordered India to submit more technical data on the project. India had previously reduced the height of the dam from 98 m (322 ft) to 37 m (121 ft). After their application was first rejected, the court asked India late September to stop constructing any permanent works that would inhibit restoration of the river. While India couldn't construct the dam, they continued work on the tunnel and power plant. In February 2013 the Hague ruled that India could divert a minimum of water for the Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant.

Design and operation

The Neelum–Jhelum Dam will be a 47 m (154 ft) tall and 125 m (410 ft) long gravity dam. It will withhold a pondage (reservoir) with a 8,000,000 m³ (6,486 acre·ft) capacity of which 2,800,000 m³ (2,270 acre·ft) is peak storage. The dam diverts up to 280 m³/s (9,888 cu ft/s) of the Neelum southeast into a 28.5 km (18 mi) long head-race tunnel, the first 15.1 km (9 mi) of the head-race is two tunnels which later meet into one. The tunnel passes 380 m (1,247 ft) below the Jhelum River and through its bend. At the terminus of the tunnel, the water reaches the surge chamber which contains a 341 m (1,119 ft) tall surge shaft (to prevent water hammer) and a 820 m (2,690 ft) long surge tunnel. From the surge chamber, the water is split into four different penstocks which feed each of the four 242 MW Francis turbine-generators in the underground power house. After being used to generate electricity, the water is discharged southeast back into the Jhelum River at 34°10′29″N 73°29′34″E through a 3.5 km (2 mi) long tail-race tunnel. The drop in elevation between the dam and power station afford an average hydraulic head of 420 m (1,378 ft).

Corruption allegations

It is alleged that the procurement of TBM machines resulted in $74 million in kickbacks, according to Transparency International Pakistan.