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Kashmir hydropower project: engineering, energy and cheap electricity


The Dawn newspaper in Islamabad reports (December 5) on the engineering marvel of the new Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan-administered Kashmir. When completed it will not only provide 969 megawatts (MW) of cheap electricity to the national grid, but also secure Pakistan’s water rights over the Neelum River, currently under threat from India’s “water aggression.”

Of the combined 55 kilometre length of the tunnel, about 18 km is now completed, including eight smaller tunnels. Four kilometres of the 32 km main tunnel, which is to divert Neelum river water from Nauseri to Chatter Kalas, has been completed.

The Neelum River has already been diverted through a smaller 500-metre diversion tunnel to dry out the riverbed for construction of a 786-foot dam in progress.

The report states that with 30% of the hydropower project completed, it has already begun to change the landscape of Azad Kashmir. The small village of Nauseri in the Neelum Valley now has road access. Nauseri is a few kilometres from the Line of Control (the line between Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Indian-held Kashmir), 41 kilometres from Muzaffarabad (the capital city of Pakistan-administered Kashmir). International engineers are providing hundreds of villagers with on-the-job training. Dozens of villagers are being trained in Germany to operate the tunnel boring machine (TBM). The tunnel boring machine, the first in Pakistan, is expected to revolutionize tunnel excavation techniques in Pakistan.

The TBM will reach the project site in February 2012. Firstly the TBM will be transported from Germany to Karachi by the end of January. Then it will take about three weeks to arrive in Muzaffarabad by road on a 70-ton 64 wheeled truck. The machine will expedite tunnel construction, particularly of the 400 metre section that will pass underneath the Jhelum riverbed to reach Chattar Kalas where an underground powerhouse will be located to dispatch 5.15 billion units of electricity per year to the national grid at Ghakkar Mandi near Gujranwala.

The two rivers, the Neelum and the Jhelum, converge in Muzaffarabad. They are the lifeblood of Pakistan and Kashmir. The Jhelum River, a tributary of India’s grand Indus River is Pakistan’s and Kashmir’s main water source, critical to their existence. This is, many believe, the real reason for the relentless conflict between Pakistan and India over Kashmir. At Muzaffarabad, the rivers merge into a single stream, with the waters continuing southward to Islamabad and the plains of Pakistan.

Martina Nicolls is the author of “Kashmir on a Knife-Edge” and lived and worked in Muzaffarabad. She is currently working in Islamabad, Pakistan.
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