The 969 megawatt Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project is quickly heading towards its completion, as the dry testing of electro-mechanical equipment, installed at the power house and the switch yard, was in progress.
This was stated by the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Lt Gen (r) Muzammil Hussain during his visit to the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project near Muzaffarabad in Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK). Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project Chief Executive Officer Brig (r) Muhammad Zareen, senior officers of the project and representatives of the consultants and the contractors were also present at the site.
Speaking on the occasion, the chairman said that it brought great satisfaction that all the critical activities of the project were being completed within the time limit, for which extra ordinary commitment and professional excellence was shown by the project management, the contractors and the consultants. He said that WAPDA was looking towards power generation from the first unit of Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project in February 2018.
During the visit, the chairman was briefed that overall progress on the project stands at 95.4 per cent. The dam (weir) of the project has been substantially completed, while reservoir impounding will commence in first week of the coming month.
The project was being constructed on river Neelum in AJK. The project was an engineering marvel with 90 per cent of the project being underground. The project consists of four units with installed capacity of 242.25 megawatts each. The first unit of the project was scheduled to be operational by end February 2018 followed by the second unit in mid-March and third and fourth units in April 2018.
Upon its completion, the project will contribute about five billion units of electricity to the national grid annually. Annual revenue of the project is estimated to be Rs 50 billion.
