LAHORE: The Wapda signed two agreements for relocation of Karakuram Highway (KKH) and construction of Right Bank Access Road in the area of Dasu Hydropower Project of 2160MW generation capacity for the implementation of its first stage.
During a ceremony, the contracts were signed between WAPDA and China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) here. The contract namely Dasu-KKH-01 worth Rs.14.538 billion relates to relocation of 25-kilometer (Km) long stretch of KKH. It is scheduled to be implemented in 546 days. The two-lane relocated stretch will be constructed at a higher attitude with the design standard prescribed for KKH.
However, Dasu-RAR-01 amounting to Rs.2.713 billion is scheduled to be implemented in one year. This 12-kilometer long road will be constructed on the right bank of the River Indus from Komila to Seo Dam site. At the moment, there is no proper road access except a jeepable track.
The district administration is currently busy in land acquisition for stage-1 of Dasu Hydropower Project. The project authorities have, however, said that the process of acquiring land is slow, and expressed the apprehension that implementation on two contracts as well as very completion of the Stage-I of Dasu project will suffer a delay if the pace of land acquisition is not accelerated.