The hydro power potential of Pakistan is estimated to be around 45,000MW, with 24,000MW technically feasible. This amount has not been able to be developed at the desired pace, and only 6595MW has been implemented so far, including large, medium and small hydro power plants.
The current development of Pakistan’s hydro power projects is just 16% of its potential which leaves a large scope for development. The main reason behind this scenario has been mainly the non-availability of funds in the public sector, but also a lack of consensus among provinces over water sharing disputes for larger hydro power projects, coupled with a lack of private sector participation.
Since 2002 there has been an improvement in the policies regarding hydro power development. A better arrangement of various financial and security incentives for hydro power projects is being encouraged, offering up to 66% capacity payments against hydrological risks and as protection against the uncertainties of hydro projects.
Over next five years a number of hydro power projects are expected to be completed in the short term in both the public and private sectors. This encompasses about 606MW of public sector projects and 1022MW of private schemes. These include large multi purpose project Munda (740MW), Gulpur (120MW), Kotli (97MW), and Schra (65MW). Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) of Pakistan has a programme called Vision 2025, which has three phases. The first phase is the devolvement of eight high priority hydro projects of roughly 715MW. The second and third phases include nine and thirteen projects totaling about 3000MW and 12,500MW respectively, planned over the periods of 2005 to 2010 and 2010 to 2015.
Educational programmes
• The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) was created in 1958 as a semi-autonomous body for the purpose of coordinating and giving a unified direction to the development of schemes in water and power sectors, which were previously being dealt with by the respective electricity and irrigation department of the provinces. In 1977 the Hydroelectric Training Centres were established at Mangla, with a programme for educating and training WAPDA employees. The centres aim to impart theoretical as well as on-the-job training to the newly recruited junior engineer and technical staff. The courses conducted at this traning centre are shown in the table below.
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