Page 7 - AsiaElec Week 32

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Pakistan begins work on Chinese-funded

4,500-MW Diamer-Bhasha Dam

PAKISTAN PAKISTAN has begun construction of the Chi- Corporation of China and Pakistan`s FWO.
nese-backed 4,500-MW Diamer-Bhasha Dam, Power Construction Corporation of China
after Western interests have failed to offer fund- expected to contribute 70% of this initial
ing or construction support over the last five expenditure.
years. However, the total cost of the dam and
Asim Saleem Bajwa, chairman of China-Pa- accompanying generation infrastructure has
kistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority, been estimated at $8bn.
said that the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha On July 15, a commencement ceremony
Dam on the River Indus, dubbed locally Paki- was held at Diamer-Bhasha Dam, which was
stan’s Three Gorges, had started. attended by Prime Minister Imran Khan and
Construction will be jointly undertaken leading Chinese officials.
by Power Construction Corporation of China As well as providing 4,500 MW of capacity,
and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) of the dam will improve water resource manage-
Pakistan. ment, helping to reduce drought. It will also drive
Work is due to be completed by 2028, and the economic development and support the steel,
hydro project is set to have a nameplate capacity cement and construction sectors.
of 4,500 MW, which would enable it to deliver Opponents of the dam point out that up to
18bn kWh per year to Pakistan’s grid. 35,000 people will lose their homes because of
The 272-metre high dam will be the tallest the project, and that the power produced will be
roller compact concrete (RCC) dam in the world. used mainly by wealthy Pakistani large indus-
The dam was originally not one of the 22 trial companies. The 80mn people, about 50% of
major Chinese-supported infrastructure pro- the populations, that do not have access to grid
jects that featured in the CPEC’s first phase. power would remain without supplies.
In 2013, Pakistan’s Water and Power Develop- The reservoir would impact the politically
ment Authority (WAPDA) issued a request for contested Northern Areas, or Pakistan-occupied
proposal (RfP) to US, UK and German compa- Kashmir as it is known in India, and could con-
nies, and after that also asked the World Bank, tribute to further unrest in the region, the NGO
the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the US and International Rivers pointed out.
China for financing assistance. There are also concerns that China will use
However, in May WAPDA formally issued its inclusion in the CPEC to increase its eco-
the letter of acceptance (LOA) to the Chinese nomic and political influence in Pakistan, both
for the project and signed a PKR442bn ($2.8bn) by providing finance, designs and expertise for
general contract for the construction of the dam the project, and by insisting on strict debt repay-
with the joint venture of Power Construction ment schedules.™
NUCLEAR

Russian technology pushes forward nuclear

construction at India’s Kudankulam

INDIA INDIAN contractor Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and was manufactured in Russia by Tiazhmash JSC
advisors from Russia’s Rosatom have successfully in Syzran.
installed the metal cladding for the reactor pres- India’s Nuclear Power Corporation of India
sure vessel in Unit 3 of the Kudankulam NPP. Ltd (NPCIL) is using Russian technology and
Rosatom said in a statement that they had financing to build the third to sixth 1,000-MW
installed Dry Shielding, which is a cylindrical reactors at Kudankulam.
metal cladded shield filled with serpentine con- Russian technology, supplied by a number of
crete that surrounds the reactor pressure vessel. the country’s nuclear companies, which are all
This prevents the overheating of the reinforced part of the Rosatom concern, was also used to
concrete reactor pit structure via a process build the operating first and second units.
known as neutron flux attenuation. Meanwhile, Rosatom said last week that it
The cylindrical shield weighs 140 tonnes and had dispatched pipe spools from Petrozavodsk

Week 32 12•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7