Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project

Stantec is leading a joint venture to provide final design and construction supervision services for the 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project, one of the major elements of Pakistan’s Vision 2025 program for energy development.

Services include review of tender-level design, preparation of construction drawings, and construction management services. The project includes a 135-meter-long, 47-meter-high concrete gravity diversion dam on the Neelum River at Nauseri, a gross head of 420 meters, and a reservoir of 8 million m3. The 28.5-kilometer-long headrace tunnel will be constructed in rock through the challenging Himalayan geology of interbedded sandstones, siltstones, and mudstones, and will cross through the Muzaffarabad Fault and under the Jhelum River. The surge chamber consists of a 341-meter riser shaft and an 820-meter-long surge tunnel. Four 100-meter-long steel-lined penstock tunnels with a 3.8-meter internal diameter will be constructed. The underground powerhouse has four turbine-generator units with a combined maximum capacity of 969 MW (5,150 million kWh of annual energy generation), discharging into the Jhelum River through a 3-kilometer-long tailrace tunnel. The project will be connected with Rawat Grid station through a 500-kV double-circuit transmission line.

The Neelum-Jhelum Project is one of the major projects planned by the government of Pakistan to enhance its hydropower development to meet the growing energy needs of the country. For more than 50 years, Stantec has been instrumental in the sustainable development of water and energy resources in Pakistan, including flood control, irrigation, and energy generation and transmission. This a project that will not only revolutionize energy consumption for the country, but also provide social and economic benefits to the local population.