The 969-megawatt Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project, finished at an estimated sanctioned cost of roughly Rs. 508 billion, has been shut down due to significant cracks in its tailrace tunnel amid nationwide electricity shortages.
“Neelum-Jhelum is unfortunately offline. Details of its suspension or fault have not been concluded yet,” Power Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said during a news conference. He added that detailed examinations were presently being conducted of all of its channels, which are lengthy and deep, some of which are under enormous mountains.
After 21 years of waiting, the project’s construction finally began in 2002, and it was finished in April 2018 despite numerous cost overruns and missed deadlines.
Chinese contractor CGGC-CMEC (Gezhouba Group), hired in December 2007, carried out extensive construction including around 58 kilometers of tunnels.
The project’s production has frequently exceeded its installed capacity of 969 MW, reaching 1,040 MW.
It was supplying the national grid with more than five billion kWh, or units of power, each year at an average cost of roughly Rs. 9 per unit with no fuel costs.
The project’s “tailrace tunnel has been blocked and as a result, the power station has been closed for safety reasons,” the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), which manages hydroelectric plants, later stated.
“The reasons for the closure of the tailrace tunnel are currently being investigated. Steps would be taken to remove the blockade of the tailrace once the reasons are known,” Wapda said in a statement issued in Urdu.
It claimed that the Ministry of Water Resources has informed all pertinent organizations of the closure of one of the leading hydroelectric facilities in the nation.
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