A Rs 4.1 billion agreement for consultancy services for Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric Project (NJHEP) was signed between Wapda and Neelum-Jhelum Consultants, a joint venture of two foreign and three local firms, here at Wapda House on Thursday.
General Manager, NJHEP, Husnain Afzal and Gene J Kocian signed the agreement on behalf of Wapda and Neelum-Jhelum Consultants respectively. Wapda Chairman, Shakil Durrani and Member (Water) Syed Raghib Abbas Shah also witnessed the ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, Wapda Chairman said that the 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric Project would be completed in seven years with a total cost of Rs 130 billion and contribute more than 5 billion units of electricity annually to the national grid.
He said that the project would help improve the ratio of hydel electricity in the total generation system of the country. Per unit electricity, generated by the project, will cost only Rs 1.92, which is about three times less than that of the thermal generation. While thanking the AJK Government, the Chairman revealed that the land for the project has already been acquired.
Dilating upon the future hydropower projects of Wapda, the Chairman said that detailed engineering designs of various hydropower projects with accumulative generation capacity of 25,000 MW are presently at the advance stages.