2024-05-04 09:12:24
islamabad: Pakistan has had to stop the ambitious Neelum-Jhelum project prepared over years. Pakistan’s Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) said on Thursday that the 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project worth more than Rs 500 billion has been completely shut down for inspection. Wapda said in its statement that the decision has been taken after it came to light a month ago that there were pressure fluctuations in the headrace tunnel of the project. Once the problem in the Headrace Tunnel is identified, a comprehensive plan to fix it will be drawn up with project consultants and international experts. This plant in Pakistan has been built by China and billions of rupees have been spent on it, but since the time of its completion, there have been some problems in it. Pakistan’s money seems to be sinking in this project.
According to Dawn report, a sudden change in headrace tunnel pressure was observed on April 2. Project management began operating the plant at 530MW on 6 April to monitor fluctuations in headrace tunnel pressure, taking advice from consultants on tunnel safety. After this, work continued at this low capacity in the plant located in Pakistan occupied Kashmir till 29 April.
The problem surfaced again on 29 April
Pressure instability was again observed in the tunnel on April 29 in the Headrace Tunnel. Due to this the production started decreasing and the pressure was not maintained within the safe limits. After this, keeping in mind the safety of headrace and power house, the plant was closed on the morning of 1 May for inspection of the tunnel. Intake gates at the dam site were lowered for flushing of de-sanders on the advice of consultants regarding withdrawal of water from the 48 km long tunnel after serious safety concerns were raised.
Wapda said that in this project, a 51.5 km long tunnel system has been constructed in a weak geological and seismic-prone area. Its headrace tunnel is 48 km long while the tailrace tunnel is 3.5 km long. About 90 percent of the project is underground. The project was shut down in July 2022 due to a major crack in its 3.5 km tailrace tunnel. It took 13 months to repair, after which power generation resumed in September 2023. It again faced problems in April this year and currently it had to be completely closed.
Wapda has made an insurance claim
The previous repair of the tunnel cost about Rs 6 billion. 37 billion rupees were spent during maintenance and testing over the next 20 months. Wapda has filed an insurance claim of Rs 43 billion for the losses. Several high-level meetings have also been held on this subject. The Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project has so far generated 19.83 billion units of electricity since its commissioning in 2018. This includes 1.54 billion units since the resumption of power generation following the rehabilitation of the tailrace tunnel in August last year. Construction of the project started in 2002 after a delay of 21 years and was completed in April 2018.