In the wake of the fire that broke out in the jungle adjacent to the Tarbela Dam Thursday night, the Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Shakil Durrani visited the project on Saturday to witness the situation on-ground.
He took a detailed round of the various components of the project, the switchyard and the power station in particular.
WAPDA Member (Power) Muhammad Qasim Khan, Tarbela Dam Project General Manager Hazrat Umar, Hydro Operation General Manager Wajid Hameed and other senior officers were also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the chairman said the Tarbela Dam Project had been playing a pivotal role for the national economy since its completion in the mid 70s. He directed the project authorities to devise a comprehensive strategy on the basis of an in-depth analysis of the incident to minimise the possibility of the occurrence of such events in the future. Smooth functioning of the project, the safety and protection of the national asset ought to be the foremost priority of the project management, he added.
The project authorities informed that the fire occurred in the bushes/trees under the distribution transformers because of sparking following the high winds. However, the fire was put out through concerted efforts. No damage was caused to any WAPDA installation, as all the equipment was immediately insulated from the fire, they said.
Later, the chairman also attended a briefing at the Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project. He was told that an Expression of Interest (EoI) had been called to initiate the pre-qualification process for the construction of the project, as the detailed engineering designs of the project had been completed.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Tarbela 4th Extension Project, with a power generation capacity of 1410 MW, is a part of the least cost energy generation plan being implemented by the WAPDA on priority.
The World Bank is providing $840 million for the construction of the project. With the completion of the Tarbela 4th Extension, the generation capacity of the existing Tarbela Power Station will rise from 3478 MW to 4888 MW. On its completion, the project will provide about 3.84 billion units of low-cost electricity per annum to the national grid.
The annual benefits of the project have been estimated at more than Rs 30 billion. The project will pay back its cost within three years.