WAPDA receives bids for Diamer Basha Dam from five companies

Five joint ventures led by international companies/groups submitted pre-qualification bids to the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) on Wednesday for the construction of main reservoir and appurtenant structures of the 4,500MW Diamer Basha Dam, local media reports have informed.

Apart from that WAPDA also decided to establish its own consultant group by December this year that would assist it in initiating, commencement and completion of the civil and other works besides building capacity of hundreds of engineers who would be exclusively used for the construction of hydropower projects including Mohmand Dam in Pakistan.

According to a senior WAPDA official, pre-qualification bids have been received from five joint ventures (JVs) led by the international companies. Local companies are also part of these ventures. All the companies will be evaluated on certain technical and financial parameters and standards and negotiation with the shortlisted bidders over cost of the project will take around three to four months.

Basha dam, a multipurpose project, whose fundraising was initiated by the Supreme Court aims to overcome the water shortage in the country along with mitigating floods in the country.

The project, which will be constructed across River Indus about 40-kilometre downstream of Chillas Town, will have 272-metre high Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) Dam. It will have a gross water storage capacity of 8.1 million acre feet (MAF) and add more than 18 billion units of low-cost and environment friendly electricity to the national grid per annum.

The official said since the land acquisition for the project was already completed, launching the civil work will be done soon also.

The dam’s construction is also expected to increase the life of Tarbela Dam to another 35 years and the Supreme Court of Pakistan continues to focus and direct the government to launch civil work on Diamer Basha and Mohmand dams which are mentioned in the category of “ready for construction” under Wapda’s priority mega hydropower schemes.

Moreso, the Wapda authorities briefed Prime Minister Imran Khan on the action plan being adopted to complete the projects and the PM appreciated the plan and directed authorities to accelerate efforts for launching work on the project keeping in view the growing water issues in the country.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Wapda said the prequalification bids for the project would be evaluated in accordance with the bid documents and the relevant procurement rules of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).