Ghazi-Barotha Hydropower Project

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Ghazi-Barotha Hydropower Project
The Ghazi-Barotha Dam
Official name	غازى بروتھا
Country	Pakistan
Location	Between Attock, Punjab and Haripur, KP
Coordinates	33°46′48″N 72°15′35″E / 33.78000°N 72.25972°E / 33.78000; 72.25972
Construction began	1999
Opening date	2002
Construction cost	US$ 2.1 billion
Owner(s)	WAPDA
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Indus River
Height	50
Spillway capacity	18,700 m3/s (660,000 cu ft/s)
Reservoir
Active capacity	25,500,000 m3 (20,700 acre⋅ft)
Power Station
Commission date	2003–2004
Type	Run-of-the-river
Hydraulic head	69 m (226 ft)
Turbines	5 × 290 MW Francis-type
Installed capacity	1,450 MW
Annual generation	7,037 GWh

Ghazi-Barotha Hydropower Project (Urdu: غازى بروتھا) is a 1,450 MW run-of-the-river hydropower, connected to the Indus River. It is located about 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Attock in the Punjab province and east of Haripur in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Construction of the project began in 1995. It consists of five generators, each possessing a maximum power generation capacity of 290 MW. The inauguration of the plant took place on 19 August 2003, presided over by the then President General Pervez Musharraf. It also saw the commissioning of the first two of the five generators i.e. Unit 1 and Unit 2. The last generator was commissioned on 6 April, 2004, and the project was completed by December the same year. It costed US$2.1 billion with funding from Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, European Investment Bank and Islamic Development Bank.^[1][2]

About 1,600 cubic meter per second of water is diverted from the Indus River near the town of Ghazi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, about 7 km downstream of Tarbela Dam (4,888 MW). It then runs through a 100 metre wide and 9 metre deep open power channel which is entirely concrete along its 52 km length down to the village of Barotha where the power complex is located. ^{[citation needed]} In the reach from Ghazi to Barotha, the Indus River inclines by 76 meters over a distance of 63 km. After passing through the powerhouse, the water is returned to the Indus. In addition to these main works, transmission lines stretch 225 km.

The World Bank classed it "A" for adequate attention to environmental and social issues. The feasibility report was prepared in 1993 during the first tenure of Benazir Bhutto's administration and the Government of Pakistan entered into an agreement for the financing and construction of the project on 7 March 1996.^[3]