Chinese consortium wins EPC contract for Pakistan hydropower project

A Chinese consortium has been awarded a US$1.277 billion engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for Pakistan's 720-MW Karot hydropower plant.

The winning consortium includes Yangtze Three Gorges Technology & Economic Development Co. and China Machinery Engineering Corp. The team will develop a plant that includes an underground powerhouse and will generate electricity from four 183-MW Francis turbine units.

Work on the Karot facility is expected to start by the end of 2015, with completion by 2020. Energy generated at the plant will be sold to the National Transmission and Dispatch Company under a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA). The project is expected to generate 3,436 GWh annually.

The project will be operated by Karot Power Company Ltd. and will be financed on a commercial basis, with costs now anticipated to exceed US$1.98 billion.

The People's Bank of China, the Silk Road Fund and the World Bank will buy shares in China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Ltd., a subsidiary of China's Three Gorges Corporation. Other financiers of the project include the Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank. They will issue loans to the Karot Power Company, a subsidiary of China Three Gorges South Asia Investment.

The project is being developed under the Power Policy 2002 on a build-own-operate-transfer basis, with an expected concession period of about 35 years (5 years of construction, 30 years of operation).