ISLAMABAD: The long-awaited Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project will be commissioned in February 2018 with its first unit going into operation, while the second unit of the project will come on line by April and the third unit by May 2018.

Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Lieutenant General Muzammil Hussain (Retd) expressed these views during his visit to the project on Monday.

He visited various components of the project and reviewed progress of construction work on them.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chairman said that as many as 1410 Mega Watt (MW) low-cost and environment friendly hydel electricity would be added to the National Grid with phased-completion of Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project from February to May 2018, which would help mitigate power shortages in the country with low-cost hydel electricity.

Expressing satisfaction over the pace of work, he emphasized upon the project management, the consultants and the contractors to maintain close liaison among them to meet the timelines for completion of the project without compromising the stipulated standards of quality for construction work.

It is worth mentioning here that the 1410 MW-Tarbela 4th Extension is a component of least-cost energy generation plan being implemented by WAPDA on priority to increase the ratio of hydel electricity in the system to stabilize electricity tariff for the consumers.

Under Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project, three electric power generating units - each of them having capacity of 470 MW - are being installed at tunnel 4 of Tarbela Dam. With completion of the project, generation capacity of the existing Tarbela Hydel Power Station will increase to 4888 MW from the existing 3478 MW.

Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project will provide 3840 Giga Watt hours (3.84 billion units of electricity) to the National Grid annually.