Overview
- The 260 MW scheme, budgeted at INR 327.745 billion, will be developed by state-run NHPC, with construction likely to start early next year.
- Plans call for reusing the Dulhasti Stage I dam, reservoir and intake; the earlier 390 MW run-of-the-river plant was completed in 2007.
- Islamabad is expected to raise objections at diplomatic and international forums, arguing the project contravenes treaty obligations.
- Independent analysts warn of strategic and water-security risks for Pakistan because the Chenab is among the rivers allocated to it under the 1960 accord.
- Environmental reviews note a roughly 25-kilometre stretch of the Marusudar River would see significant hydrological changes once the project operates.