Neelum-Jhelum project: Another wonder in the making

It is the first ever state-of-the-art venture with over 90 per cent underground portion; will start generating electricity by June 2017

MUZAFFARBAD: Seeing is believing as after the Karakoram Highway (KKH) –the eighth wonder of the world – Pakistan is going to have another one that is the first ever state-of-the-art venture Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project costing Rs 404.321 billion, whose 90 per cent plus portion is underground and only 7-8 per cent on the surface.

William B Dobbs – the project consultant – has termed it as exceptional and may be another wonder in Pakistan, arguing it is the only project in the history of Pakistan having 68-km tunnelling, while the powerhouse, with four turbines each having a capacity to generate 242 MW of electricity, is also being established in the tunnel.

During the a daylong  sojourn to the project sites (Nosehri, Majoi and Chattar Kalas), The News was told by Dobbs that building the dam at Nosehri along the Muzaffarabad fault line and erection of tunnels under the fractured rocks in the presence of water bearings, pebbles and sand was really challenging.

The tunnelling while using hi tech TBMs (tunnel boring machines) does not any match in projects around the world. However, such projects in Norway and Los Angles have been constructed but not at the scale of Neelum-Jhelum.

Dobbs said the project could certainly be termed as the wonder of Pakistan. Wapda Chairman Zafar Mehmood also had similar views and described it as a living monument of Pakistan-China friendship.

It was a sunny morning on January 20 when this correspondent on a special invitation of top notches of Wapda became part of a caravan – comprising over 10 vehicles and headed by the Wapda chairman – entered underground tunnel from Majoi – 19 kilometres from the dam site.

The caravan further passed through the tunnel built 200 meters beneath the River Jhelum’s bed and crossed the waterway. It made me feel as if I was the part of the mission whose task is to explore the centre of the earth, but after sometime felt proud when the whole caravan stopped at a point where we found jubilant Chinese officials workers holding flags of Pakistan and China in their hands. 

The reason behind the jubilance was another major milestone that the Chinese and Pakistan experts achieved on January 9 against the scheduled date of January 15 when a tunnel coming from the dam site at Nosehri got connected with the headrace tunnel excavated from the powerhouse at Chattar Kalas.

The 100 per cent precision in connecting the two tunnels was a marvellous job and had happened for the first time, Zafar Mehmood said and, in the same breath, mentioned that it was completely different from the connecting just 1.5 kilometres long Lowari Tunnel.  Flanked with Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Company CEO Gen (r) Mohammad Zubair, Project Director Nayyar Alauddin and the top officials of Chinese company at the point of connecting the two tunnels, the Wapda chairman explained that one tunnel goes down the earth from the dam side which after some distance splits into right and left tunnels running parallel for 32 kilometres and then again turning into one that directly goes 500 meters deep to touch the power turbines. When completed, the tunnels would water to hit the turbine for power generation.

According to the Wapda chairman, the portion of the tunnel that crosses River Jhelum – 200 meters beneath its bed – will have steel lining and the remaining part would be equipped with concrete and steel lining, depending upon the hydro jacking tests.

Out of the 68 kilometres, 59 kilometres tunnels have been excavated. The left side tunnel will be connected from both sides sometime in February.

At the dam site, the chairman said: “Thankfully, the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Power Project wasn’t constructed before the catastrophic earthquake hitting the country in 2005 as the project was redesigned after the natural disaster, keeping in view the fault lines. Though the project cost has increased, it has ensured safety of the project.”

Zafar Mehmood said the dam would have 3.5 kilometres long lake which was not only going to beautify the site but also attract more tourists.

He said the project would start power generation in the high flow season of 2017, with the country getting 242 MW of electricity from the first turbine. The second turbine would start generating electricity within next two months, while all the four turbines were expected to be functional to produce 969 MW of electricity by the end of 2017 or in the first month of 2018, he added.

Pakistan will get 5.1 billion units of electricity in a year through the project. The dam is being built with a capacity to absorb high-intensity earthquake. Three hydraulic gates to regulate water flow are being installed out of which one has already been and is also successfully tested. The second one has also been installed but testing is yet to be carried. However, the third gate is being fabricated.

Just short of power house at Chattar Kalas, there is a site of 525KV switchyard where construction activities were under way. The chairman was told that switchyard would be ready to get operational by November 2016.

 It is pertinent to mention that the project’s progress will gain momentum in the days to come due to the personal interest taken by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, owing to which this project will be having the financial closure in next one and half months’ time.

This will ensure the sustainable financial supplies to the project. Earlier, the project was being constructed without financial closure.

The premier is now scheduled to visit the project on February 2.