Voith Hydro of Germany has received a contract from the Water and Power Development Authority of Pakistan (WAPDA) for the delivery and assembly of five Francis turbines. These are destined for the Ghazi Barotha hydro power project in Pakistan which, after the Three Gorges in China, is one of the largest hydro projects currently under construction in the world.
Designed for an output of 295MW, the turbines are scheduled for start up at the plant in 2002. Ghazi Barotha is located on the Indus river which, at 3180km-long, is one of the longest stretches of waterway in Asia. To operate the power station, a large section of the Indus will be directed to the turbines via a 52km-long canal and five pressure pipelines, each measuring 10.6m in diameter.
Voith states that it had to ‘fight off the keenest international competition’ to win the contract for the project and that the contract confirms Asia’s potential and future market for hydro power station equipment.
The total estimated cost of the supply and services for Ghazi Barotha is US$2-3B. The German portion of this is secured by a guarantee contract with Hermes Credit Insurance.