The 720 megawatt Karot Hydropower Project being built from Silk Road Fund initiated by Chinese President, Xi Jinping, would become operational by the year 2020. The construction work on this project has already been started at Karot village of Rawalpindi district in January this year and is expected to be completed in 2020, a senior official in the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms said.
He said, it is the first hydropower project financed by China's Silk Road Project for which land acquisition is being completed at a fast pace. After completion in 5 years, the Karot Power Company will run and maintain the project for 30 years after which it will be transferred to the Punjab government. The Project site is accessible through the road from Islamabad-Kahuta-Kotli Road approximately 29 kilometres from Kahuta village, and 65 kilometres from Islamabad. The major project features included construction of concrete gravity 91 meters high dam with a crest length of 320 meters near the village of Gohra.
The dam's reservoir will be approximately 152 million cubic meters in volume, with a length of 27 kilometres. However 72 homes and 58 businesses are expected to require relocation as a result of construction, while 2.8 kilometres of the Karot-Kotli road, and 8.9 kilometres of the Azad Pattan-Kahuta road will need relocation. The power intake structure will be constructed on right bank of the river immediately upstream of Dam site and will divert the water into headrace tunnels entering into Cavern Powerhouse. The water will be discharged back to River Jhelum through tail-race channel located at right bank of the River Jhelum immediately downstream of Karot village. The dam will generate mean annual energy 3,436 GWh, and will connect to Pakistan's national electricity grid.
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