What's new

How many MW of dams can be build with $1 billion?

WishLivePak

SENIOR MEMBER
Joined
May 24, 2014
Messages
4,424
Reaction score
-4
Country
Pakistan
Location
Canada
The metro bus cost in Multan, Islamabad and Lahore may well reach $1b US.

I was wondering what capacity (MW) of hydro dams we could have built with this instead?

I support metros since people need cheap rides, it creates jobs and so forth. But I also want to know how much MW can be produce from $1b, because if we can provide more electricity to factories, that too means more jobs and money in people's pocket. That is not all, dams control floods, so we save money which are caused by these disasters (paying $ to deceased/injured, rebuilding roads, helicopters lift, helicopters crashes etc)
 
Depends on many factors but on average it is going to be about 350 MW.

Comparison-of-Generating-Plant.jpg
 
Dasu dam, which is under construction, costs about ~4 Bn USD, and will give us ~4000 MW. But it's not easy to simply and say ~1 Bn USD will give us ~1000 MW.

Problem is scaling. Also, Big Dams can't do anything about flash floods, which are a local phenomenon.

Besides, picking on metro is useless, govt spent ~10 billion dollars on fuel subsidies last year, THAT is what is killing us. Ever stove we light, every motorbike we run, every bulb we turn on... all have subsidy mixed in them. (Source: Pakistan among countries spending 4 to 8pc of their GDP on energy subsidies - Pakistan - DAWN.COM

Fuel subsidy is a problem we are not ready to admit even exists!
 
Last edited:
Besides, picking on metro is useless, govt spent ~10 billion dollars on fuel subsidies last year, THAT is what is killing us.
what is killing us is the loss of gas and electricity through theft after which government has to bail out these companies. However much energy or money we pump into the system, it would not be enough as long theft is not stopped. The Government is blind to restructuring the organisations happy instead with the current situation.
The metro bus cost in Multan, Islamabad and Lahore may well reach $1b US.
add the metro train and you cross 2 billion dollars...
 
Dasu dam, which is under construction, costs about ~4 Bn USD, and will give us ~4000 MW. But it's not easy to simply and say ~1 Bn USD will give us ~1000 MW.

Problem is scaling. Also, Big Dams can't do anything about flash floods, which are a local phenomenon.

Besides, picking on metro is useless, govt spent ~10 billion dollars on fuel subsidies last year, THAT is what is killing us. Ever stove we light, every motorbike we run, every bulb we turn on... all have subsidy mixed in them. (Source: Pakistan among countries spending 4 to 8pc of their GDP on energy subsidies - Pakistan - DAWN.COM

Fuel subsidy is a problem we are not ready to admit even exists!

Total cost of dasu is $8 billion, only phase I will cost $4 billion if everything goes according to plan which is unlikely, so expect cost to increase by end.

Cost of dam will depend on site and other factors. Neelum jhelum dam now will cost $4 billion for 969MW.
 
An area where India, Pakistan, BD can easily come together as there are no geological hindrances (mountains/hills) between the countries. It would be easy to build the grid.

The same way the two countries are going ahead with talks despite escalating Cease Fire violations, you could continue to have "autonomous" electricity grid that continues despite such violations - it will be a confidence building measure.

But of course, the political mistrust is a bit too high.
 

Pakistan Defence Latest Posts

Back
Top Bottom