Karot Hydropower Station begins water storage

Azad Pattan, Azad Kashmir

The Karot Hydropower Project in Pakistan is one of the major investments under the Belt and Road Initiative. And its reservoir began storing water today. The plant is along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a 3000-kilometer long route of infrastructure projects connecting the two countries.

After six years of construction, the Karot Hydropower Station has closed the gates of its diversion tunnels, and has officially started to impound water. It’s a milestone event, marking the completion of over ninety percent of the project. It also paves the way for power generation in eastern Pakistan in the first half of next year.

ZUO YAXI Head, Engineering Department China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Ltd. “We spent two years working out solutions to cope with the sandstone and mudstone underground, which interrupted our grouting work. We made it after repeated trial and error. The cement used for the construction was produced locally, so we tried very hard to control temperature rise, and reduce cracks in the concrete.”

Karot Hydropower Station is located on the Jhelum River in Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab.

With an installed capacity of 7,200 megawatts, it can provide over three billion kilowatt hours of clean energy each year, supplying electricity to about five million people in the country.

N.A. ZUBEIRI Senior Consultant China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Ltd. “During construction, about three thousand to five thousand people will get the employment, and they’re already employed here. Another important thing is that the tariff for the project is around 7.5 cents per unit. So consumers in Pakistan will get cheaper electricity from this basic project.”

The project is an investment by China Three Gorges Corporation, a Chinese enterprise that’s among the world’s largest producers of hydroelectric power.

Its subsidiary, the Three Gorges South Asia Investment, holds the majority share of the Karot Power Company that operates the plant.

N.A. ZUBEIRI Senior Consultant China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Ltd. “This investment is coming from private sectors, after completing 30 years, this project will be transferred to the provincial government, which means the government of Punjab will get a project of 1.7 billion dollars at free.”

The Karot Hydropower Station is the first investment project of the Silk Road Fund, and is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Once completed, it’s expected to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Pakistan by 3.5 million tons per year.  Courtesy Meng Qingsheng, CGTN.