{"id":20688,"date":"2026-10-12T05:26:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T05:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tunnelingworld.com\/?p=20688"},"modified":"2026-10-12T05:33:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T05:33:48","slug":"tarbela-5th-extension-tunnel-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tunnelingworld.com\/?p=20688","title":{"rendered":"Tarbela 5th Extension Project Achieves Major Tunnel Breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tunnel Breakthrough Advances Hydropower Expansion<\/h5>\n

Pakistan\u2019s Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has announced the successful breakthrough of a connecting tunnel at the Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project on the Indus River.<\/p>\n

Chinese construction company Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA<\/a>), responsible for the civil works, celebrated the achievement at the project site. The tunnel connects the raised intake shaft to the existing Tunnel 5, supporting the conversion of the irrigation tunnel into a power tunnel.<\/p>\n

The project includes three generating units rated at 510MW each, providing a total additional installed capacity of 1,530MW. According to WAPDA, the extension is expected to generate approximately 1.466 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.<\/p>\n

International Contractors and Financing<\/h5>\n

POWERCHINA is delivering the civil works, while Harbin Electric International and Harbin Electric Machinery are responsible for the electromechanical works through a joint venture.<\/p>\n

The project is financed by WAPDA, the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).<\/p>\n

Upon completion, the extension is expected to increase Tarbela Dam\u2019s installed generating capacity from 4,888MW to 6,418MW, strengthening Pakistan\u2019s electricity supply and supporting its transition towards renewable energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tunnel Breakthrough Advances Hydropower Expansion Pakistan\u2019s Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has announced the successful breakthrough of a connecting tunnel at the Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project on the Indus River. Chinese construction company Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA), responsible for the civil works, celebrated the achievement at the project site. The tunnel connects the raised intake shaft to the existing Tunnel 5, supporting the conversion of the irrigation tunnel into a power tunnel. The project includes three generating units rated at 510MW each, providing a total additional installed capacity of 1,530MW. According to WAPDA, the extension is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4001],"tags":[5699,5698,5700],"class_list":["post-20688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contract-projects","tag-hydropower-project","tag-tarbela-5th-extension","tag-wapda","post--single"],"yoast_head":"\nTarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project Achieves Breakthrough<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pakistan\u2019s 1,530MW Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project achieves a tunnel breakthrough, advancing construction at Tarbela Dam.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tunnelingworld.com\/?p=20688\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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