French Envoy visits Pak-French Power Project in KPK

On July 26th, 2010, Secretary EAD, French Ambassador Daniel Jouanneau, Ambassador of France and Country Director of French Development Agency (AFD) signed a financing agreement of 26.5 million euros to contribute to the rehabilitation of the Jabban Hydropower plant in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPK) and to finance technical trainings for WAPDA’s engineers and technicians.

The ground-breaking ceremony of the Project was held on 14th May 2011 and the Project was formally inaugurated by Chairman WAPDA, Mr. Shakil Durrani.

One year after signing of funding agreement, the French Ambassador visited on 7th September 2011 the Project site where civil works are going on.

Jabban Power Project is located on Swat canal in Malakand Division. Jabban is a run-of-river hydropower plant at 45 km north of Mardan.

Built in 1937, it is the oldest large hydropower plant in Pakistan. It discontinued its production after a fire broke out in November 2006.

The good quality of the civil engineering, as evaluated by WAPDA & NESPAK engineers, allows to rehabilitate the infrastructure with updated standards and to increase the capacity of the plant from 19 MW up to 22 MW. During construction, 200 people are employed at the worksite, directly benefiting local population of Malakand District.

After full rehabilitation, the plant will employ 50 people, and will provide electricity to more than 240,000 people. The other 20 MW Dargai Power Station is also located on the same canal downstream of Jabban using its tail water. This Project was built in 1952. The plant & machinery of this power project are in good working condition due to proper maintenance by WAPDA’s engineers.

As a member of the group of Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP), France is very sensitive to the welfare of the Pakistani population and is committed to implementing sustainable development projects on the energy and water sectors.

The exceptional potential of Pakistan in terms of hydropower encourages both parties to jointly engage in other projects in the future. AFD, WAPDA and HEB have already identified other hydropower plants projects in Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and KPK. In the near future, AFD’s expected funding in promoting hydropower in Pakistan will reach about 240 million euros for an additional installed capacity of 221 MW.