Dasu Hydropower Project - Stage 1: Pre-bid meeting held for main civil works

The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) held the first pre-bid meeting at WAPDA House today for Main Civil Works of the Stage-I of Dasu Hydropower Project. Main Civil Works consist of MW-01 Dam and its appurtenant structures and MW-02 Underground Powerhouse and its appurtenant structures. The bid documents of these works were issued on February 12, 2016 to pre-qualified Bidders for submission on May 12, 2016. It is pertinent to mention that representatives of all the eight pre-qualified firms and joint ventures (4 contractors from Turkey, one each from China, Italy, Vietnam, and South Korea) attended the meeting.
The meeting was presided over by WAPDA Member (Water) Muhammad Shoaib Iqbal, Member (Finance) Muhammad Anwar-ul-Haq, Dasu Hydropowr Project General Manager, Haji M Farooq, General Manger (CCC), Nasir Hanif and representatives of the DHC Consultants were also present on the occasion.
In his welcome remarks, WAPDA Member (Water) thanked the representatives of pre-qualified firms and joint ventures for their participation in the meeting. He also appreciated their participation after travelling long way from home country and sparing valuable time. He encouraged them to participate in the bidding process and promise them to provide level playing field and all support from WAPDA.
Later, Dasu Hydropower Consultants gave a detailed presentation on technical aspects of the project and bidding process. Dasu Hydropower Project Financial Advisor briefed the participants about financial strategy of Dasu Hydropower Project. Afterwards representatives of the pre-qualified firms and joint ventures raised their queries regarding the project and the bidding process in question-answer session. The queries were responded to by the concerned accordingly.
The Member (Water) reminded that questions discussed during the meeting may be considered informal and requested them to send their queries in writing so that official response can be conveyed.
Upon extension in submission date, Member Water clearly mentioned that WAPDA is not ready to think over it. The WAPDA Member Finance clarified the participants about current status of raising of financing. To meet the payment to contractors in Local Currency and Foreign Currency, Local Bank and Foreign Bank are mandated to raise financing in Local currency and US$, respectively. The Stage-1 of Dasu Hydropower Project is estimated to cost US $4.3 billion.
It is pertinent to mention that five contracts of preliminary works, were awarded and the contractors have started the work at sites. It is also worth mentioning that the Dasu Hydropower Project is top priority of the Federal Government. The 2160 MW-Stage-I is scheduled to be completed in five years and will contribute more than 12 billion units of cheap, affordable and environment-friendly electricity to the national grid every year. The project will not only add a sizeable quantum of low-cost electricity to the national grid but also provide relief to the consumers by reducing power tariff. This project will also boost socio-economic activities in the local area.