July 19, 2007 -- Mott MacDonald has been appointed by the Water Power Development Authority of Pakistan (Wapda) to conduct a feasibility study for a proposed 5,400 MW Bunji hydropower project valued at around $3 billion.
The current proposal, to be reviewed as part of the project, has been designed to help overcome Pakistan's energy shortfall and entails creating a 180m high concrete dam with a 17 km long reservoir on the Indus River in Northern Pakistan. Water from the reservoir will feed into twelve 450 MW turbines installed with their associated generators in an underground powerhouse. Power from the project will be transferred to load centres in central Pakistan via 800 km long, 765 kV overhead transmission lines.
Mott MacDonald's project team, with international partners Sogreah from France and Nippon Koei from Japan as well as local companies MM Pakistan and DMC are to conduct a feasibility study to identify the optimum scheme within financial, economic and environmental constraints.
Francis Griffin, Mott MacDonald's project director said, "This is a very exciting proposal and we are delighted that the Water Power Development Authority of Pakistan has appointed us to help. It's particularly interesting as the current proposal includes headrace tunnels which have to pass through the main tectonic faults between the Indian subcontinent and Asia. Mott MacDonald has a wealth of experts who have assisted on challenging projects around the world and we are looking forward to helping develop this prestigious project for Pakistan."
For more information, visit www.mottmac.com.
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