The World Bank on Wednesday agreed $700 million further financing to assist Pakistan in generating low cost, renewable energy for providing affordable electricity to millions of users.
Furthermore the World Bank is also working with the federal and provincial governments to tackle the current situation related to Coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan.
The additional financing will be utilized to complete the first phase of the Dasu Hydropower project. It will install 2,160 megawatts capacity along the Indus River.
Stage two will double the installed capacity to 4,320 megawatts – making it the biggest hydropower plant in the Pakistan.
World Bank Country Director for Pakistan Illango Patchamuthu said that “Pakistan’s energy sector is aiming to move away from high-cost and inefficient fossil fuels towards low-cost, renewable energy to power the national grid”.
He further said “the Dasu Hydropower Project will result in fewer imports of fossil fuels along with reforms in the tariff structure and alleviating the stress on the country’s current account balance.”
The project will help in decreasing the overall cost of energy generation in the country, which will benefit millions of energy users by making electricity more economical for households, as well as the manufacturing and agricultural sector.
The power plant will generate electricity particularly in the summer to reduce blackouts when the demand is higher.
Task Team Leader for the project Rikard Liden, said “The Dasu hydropower plant has a low environmental footprint and is considered to be one of the best hydropower projects in the world”.
He further said “It will contribute to reducing Pakistan’s reliance on fossil-fuels and producing clean renewable energy.”
The Dasu hydropower plant will produce electricity at $0.03/kWh compared to Pakistan’s current cost of electricity generation of $0.08/kWh.
This investment will help Pakistan in move forward on its way to become an upper middle-income country by 2047.