December 10, 2021
INSTITUTE OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY, ISLAMABAD
TARBELA DAM
INDUSTRIAL TRIP REPORT
Haris Zulfiqar | 190501011
Raja Jamshed Satti | 190501020
Tehreem Sajjad | 190501037
Saad Ali | 190501058
ME-08(A)
OBJECTIVES
Industrial visit has a huge significance in the career of a student who is pursuing a professional degree. It
is considered as part of our college curriculum. The main objective of an industrial visit is to provide
students with insight about internal working of companies, to show how engineers work in industrial
environment and to show students how hydraulic power plants work. Theoretical knowledge in not
enough to make a good professional career. Industrial visits provides students a practical prospective on
work environment. These visits provide students with an opportunity to learn practically through
interaction, working methods and employment practices. It gives students exposure about latest work
practices from professional engineers. Students also gained knowledge about all the technologies being
used in Tarbela Dam.
INTRODUCTION
Tarbela is one of the world's greatest water resources development projects built on one of the world's
largest river, the Indus, locally known as the "Abbasin" i.e the father of rivers. The project is the
capstone of the Indus Basin Plan, to ensure a continued and improved supply of water to millions of
acres of irrigated land in Pakistan, besides generating hydroelectricity and controlling floods. It is located
about 40 air miles (64 km) north-west of Islamabad. The construction work on Tarbela Dam was started
in 1968 and all the civil works were completed in 1974. The total cost of the project including power
Units (1-14) amounts to US $ 2.63 billion. Unit (15-17) costs 762 Million US $ or 122,977 Million PKR
(122.977 Billion).
River Indus
Emerging from the land of the glaciers on the northern slopes of Kailash ranges, some 18,000 feet (5,500
meters) above sea level, the river Indus has its source near the Lake Mansrowar in the Himalayan
catchment area. It flows over 1,800 miles (2.900 km) before it outfalls into the Arabian sea draining an
area of about 372,000 square miles (963,480 sq. km). The catchment area of Indus at Tarbela is 65,500
sq. miles (169,600 sq. km) which is unique in the sense that it contains seven of the world's ten highest
peaks. Likewise, barring the polar area, seven glaciers situated in the Indus catchment rank amongst the
largest in the world. The mean annual flow at Tarbela is 64 million acre feet (MAF) (79 billion cu. Meters)
of which at present only 13 per cent is impounded at Tarbela.
Indus Basin Irrigation System
Pakistan has a land area of about 197 million acres (80 million hectares) of which the Indus hydrologic
basin covers about 130 million acres (53 million hectares). The actual culturable area is, however, about
39 million acres, (16 million hectares) of which nearly 85 per cent or 33 million acres (13 million
hectares) depends on a vast canal irrigation system built across the Indus river and its tributaries. The
area under Indus Basin Irrigation System is as much as the combined areas of Netherlands and Denmark.
Today the system consists of about 38,000 miles (61,000 km) of canals and a series of river barrages and
canal headworks.
Historical Background
The August 1947 partition line between Pakistan and India cut across the irrigation system of the Indus
Basin. The Indus waters dispute arose in April 1948 when India stopped the irrigation supplies coming to
Pakistan through headworks in Indian territory. The area in Pakistan was dependent on supplies from
the three eastern rivers. Sutlej, Beas and Ravi covered nearly 8 million acres (3 million hectares). The
very existence of life in this area was thus threatened.
The dispute was finally resolved through the good offices of the World Bank as a result of which the
Indus Waters Treaty was signed in September 1960 between India and Pakistan. the Treaty, waters of
the three eastern rivers, having a total mean annual flow of 33 million acre feet (MAF) (41 billion cu.
meters) went to India's share and those of three western rivers with a mean annual flow of 135 MAF
(167 billion cu. meters) were reserved for exclusive use of Pakistan.
In order to restore water to the canal system fed by the three eastern rivers, huge works were planned
to transfer water from the western rivers. This was what came to be known as the Indus Basin
Settlement (Replacement) plan which envisaged construction of two storage dams, Mangla Dam on river
Jhelum and Tarbela Dam on river Indus, five barrages, one gated syphon and eight inter river link canals
366 miles (590 km) in length.
The Government of Pakistan designated the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) asthe
agency responsible for carrying out the engineering and construction of all the works under the Indus
Basin Project. In February 1960, Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy Stratton of USA commonly known as TAMS,
were appointed the Project Consultants, and were entrusted the task of investigations, preparation of
detailed designs and contract documents for Tarbela Dam Project and also the supervision of
construction work during its execution.
Main Features of Project
The project consists of a 9,000 feet (23 meters) long, 470 feet (143 meters) high (above the bed) earth
and rock-fill embankment across the era width of the river with two spillways cutting through left bank
and discharging into a side valley. Its m spillway has a discharge capacity of 650,000 cuser (18,406
cumecs), and auxiliary spillway 850,000 cuse (24,070 cumecs). Two auxiliary embankment dans close the
low level ridges in the left bank valley. A grou of 4 tunnels, each about half a mile long through the right
abutment rock, have been constructed for irrigation releases and power generation. During the
construction operations, these tunnels were used initially for river diversion Irrigation tunnel 5 situated
on the left bank, for which NESPAK were the Project Consultants, was put into operation in April 1976,
A power station on the right bank near the toe of main dam houses seventeen power units on Tunnels 1.
2,3 and 4 Ten (10) units each with an installed generating capacity of 175 MW were installed on tunnels
1 and 2 by 1985. Four (4) units each with an installed generating capacity of 432 MW on tunnel-3 have
been commissioned in June, 1994 while three (3) units each having a generating capacity of 470 MW
were installed on Tunnel 4 which were commissioned in March-2018. Total Generation of Tarbela
enhanced to 4888 MW with the addition of T4th Ext. HPP which constitutes about 50% of hydel
generation in Pakistan.
The reservoir is 60 miles (97 km) long, 100 square miles (260 square kilometers) in area and had initially
a gross storage capacity of 11.62 MAF (14,34 billion cu. meters) with a live storage capacity of 9.68 MAF
(11.95 billion cu. meters). The total catchment area above Tarbela is spread over 65,500 square miles
(169,600 sq. km) which largely brings in snow melt supplies in addition to some monsoon rains. Four
main upstream tributaries join the Indus river, Shyok river at an elevation of 8,000 feet (2,438 meters)
above sea level near Skardu,Gilgit and Hunza rivers join near Bunji and Siran river just north of Tarbela.
The creation of reservoir required evacuation of 120 villages and displacement of 96,000 persons. This
task was accomplished by paying cash compensation for their land and built-up properties and providing
alternate agricultural land to the owners in the Punjab and Sindh provinces. Total amount spent on
resettlement is nearly one billion rupees. Five townships with 12,000 residential plots and 1,500
commercial plots were constructed for the affectees around the reservoir.
Main Embankment Dam
The principal element of the project is an embankment dam 9,000 feet (2,743 meters) long with a
maximum height of 470 feet (143 meters). The total volume of earth and rock for the project is
approximately 200 million cubic yards (152.8 million cubic meters) which made it the largest man-made
structure in the world in 1974. The main embankment is a carefully designed zoned structure composed
of an impervious core, bounded on both sides by gradually increasing sized material including coarser
sands, gravels, cobbles and finally large size riprap on the outer slopes. An impervious blanket 42 feet
(12.8 meters) thick at the dam and tailing to 5 feet (1.52 meters) at the upstream end, covers 6,700 feet
(2,042 meters) of the alluvial foundation on the upstream side. These deposits in the valley extend upto
700 feet (213 meters) depth and at places consist of open work gravels. A 24 feet (7.32 meters) thick
filter drain mattress under the embankment together with nearly vertical chimney drain provides the
necessary facility to collect the seepage.
Auxiliary Dams
The Auxiliary dams resembling the main embankment dam in design close the gaps in the left periphery
of reservoir. The smaller of the two auxiliary dams, however, has a vertical core extending down to the
underlying rock, and the larger auxiliary dam has a short upstream blanketterminating cut off to bed
rock.
Spillways
On the left bank, two spillways discharge into a side valley known as Dal Dara channel. These are
essentially flood routing structures built at comparatively higher elevation. The total spillways capacity is
1,500,000 cusecs (42,476 cumecs) which constitutes the peak outflow resulting from routing the
probable maximum flood. The service spillway having 44 per cent of the total capacity is sufficient to
pass all but very rare floods. Its maximum discharge capacity is 650,000 cusecs (18,406 cumecs). It has
seven radial gates operating above the crest elevation of 1,492 feet (455 meters).
The auxiliary spillway is similar in design to the service spillway but with a discharge capacity of 8,50,000
cusecs (24,070 cumecs). It has nine radial gates with crest elevation of 1492 feet (455 meters) and flip
bucket at elevation of 1,220 feet (372 meters). A longitudinal drainage gallery alongwith a network of
drainage pipes under the channel and the headworks has been provided to release pore water pressure
in both the spillway foundations.
Tunnels
The four tunnels (low level outlets), each about half a mile long, through the right abutment initially
served for the diversion of water during the final phases of construction of the Project. Now Tunnels 1,
2,3 and 4 are being used for power generation. While planned to install power units on Tunnel No. 5.
The discharge capacity of irrigation tunnel at higher reservoir elevation (1,500 ft) is 93,000 cusecs (2,634
cumecs). A fifth tunnel on the left bank designed to augment irrigation releases upto 86,000 cusecs
(2,435 cumecs) at high reservoir level has also been added to the project.
Power Generation
According to the original plan, four power units of 175 MW generating capacity each were to be
installed on each of the tunnels 1, 2 and 3 with the ultimate installed capacity of 2,100 MW. Of these
four units on Tunnel 1 were commissioned in year 1977. Due to increasing prices of the fossil fuel, the
Government of Pakistan has been laying greater emphasis on generation of cheap hydel power. In
pursuance of this policy, Wapda carried out studies to tap the maximum power potential of Tarbela. As
a result it was possible to install six units instead of four only on Tunnel 2. Units 5 to 8 on Tunnel 2 were
commissioned in 1982, and Units 9 and 10 in 1985. Four more power units of 432 MW capacity each
installed on Tunnel-3 commissioned in June, 1994. The total ultimate power potential of the project has
thus been enhanced from 2,100 MW, as originally planned to 3,478 MW. Now including Tunnel No. 4
power generation enhanced to 4888 MW.
Instrumentation
The Tarbela Dam is one of the most instrumented dams in the world making use of the most modern
technology available. Arrangements have been made to monitor the seepage from different parts of the
project. It is constantly measured and studied at the downstream toe of the dam and through a system
of drainage adits in the right and left abutments and under the spillways to keep a close watch on the
underground flow pattern. As many as 1041 piezometers have been installed to monitor the pore
pressure conditions in the foundation, fill zones and abutments. Another 2,000 instrument including
inclinometers, strainmeters thermometers, accelerographs etc. were installed to observe and study the
behaviour of the structures. Regular readings of these instruments furnish information on the
performance of structures and their foundations.
Construction Sequence
On May 14, 1968, the world's largest single contract for the construction of civil works of the Tarbela
Dam Project was signed at a price of Rs. 2.96 billion (US $ 623 million) between the Pakistan Water and
Power Development Authority and the Tarbela Joint Venture (TJV) which comprised a group of three
Italian and three French heavy construction contractors. Later five German and two Swiss contractors
also joined the group making up consortium of thirteen European firms.
The construction of Tarbela Dam was carried out in three stages to meet the diversion requirements of
the river. In Stage-l the river Indus was allowed to flow in its natural channel while work was continued
on right bank where a 13,000 feet (3,960 meters) long 694 feet wide (212 meters) and 60 feet (18
meters) deep channel was excavated and a 105 feet (32 meters) high concrete buttress dam was
constructed. The diversion channel was capable of discharging 750,000 cusecs (21,238 cumecs).
Construction under Stage-l lasted and a half years.
In Stage-ll (lasting three years), the main embankment dam and the upstream blanket were constructed
across the main valley of the river Indus while water remained diverted through the diversion channel.
By the end of Stage-Il, tunnels had been built for diversion purposes. Under Stage-Ill the work was
carried out on the closure of diversion channel and construction of the dam in that portion while the
river was made to flow through diversion tunnels. The remaining portion of upstream blanket and the
main dam at higher levels was also completed as a part of Stage-lIlIl works. The spillway construction
was carried out from October 1970 to August 1974 during the Stages-II and III period.
Financing
The project involved large sums of money in local as well as foreign currency in almost equal
proportions. While the rupee costs were met by the Government of Pakistan out of its own resources,
the foreign exchange requirements of the project (with the exception of Tunnel No. 5 construction cost
and power house equipment cost) were covered through the Tarbela Development Fund (TDF) which
was established in 1968 and comprised the balance amounts of grants/loans available from the Indus
basin development fund and new bilateral loan agreements signed with several countries including
Australia, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and
Germany, besides the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank).
The resources of Tarbela Development Fund were further augmented by into loan agreements with
Middle Eastern countries namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi.
The foreign currency costs of Tunnel No. 5 project as well as the procurement cost of power house
equipment for Units 1 to 4 were met by Government of Pakistan from its own resources. Financing for
power house Units 5 to 14 which were constructed as a part of power house extension Project was
provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Oil
Producing & Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Germany. The total cost of the project including power
Units 1 to 10 is approximately 1.85 billion US dollars of which the foreign exchange component amounts
to about 900 million US dollars. The contract cost of power Units 11-14 is 782 million US dollars
including about 350 million US dollars foreign exchange component.
Tarbela Highlights
1. At peak of construction activities over 15,000 Pakistani and 800 European workers including
engineers and technician of the contractor's organization were working at the project site.
Wapda staff was composed of some 1,400 personnel.
2. The Tarbela contract was the largest unit price construction contract ever awarded. Wapda
purchased under some 25 separate contracts about 57,000,000 dollars’ worth of mechanical
and electrical equipment for installation in the project.
3. About 96,000 people from over 120 affected villages were displaced and resettled.
4. The total expenditure on Tarbela Dam Resettlement Project amounts to Rs. 950 million which is
about 5%of the total cost.
5. It is the biggest hydel power station of the country with existing installed capacity of 4888 MW.
6. The entire project including embankment dams Water velocities at the spillway chutes contain
approximately 200 million cubic yards (152.8 m. cu. meters) of earth and rock, which makes it
the largest dam in the world.
7. Two spillways at a peak discharge carry an energy of about 40 million HP region of 150
ft./second (46 meters/second).
8. No lateral movement except cyclic (swing) with the filling of reservoir (Fraction of an inch) takes
place each year.
9. Average annual siltation is 0.104 MAF (128,582 cu. meters) Expected life is 83 years on 80% silt
up basis (AD 2057) based on present rate.
Initial Problems
Due to several unusual features of the project, the design and construction of Tarbela was a big leap
beyond the known horizons of engineering profession and as such many problems were encountered,
some of which were indeed unprecedented:
1. During the very first filling of the reservoir in the year 1974 and the operation of the intake
gates of 1974 and the operation of the intake gates of diversion Tunnels 1 and 2, central intake
gate of Tunnel 2 got stuck. This ultimately resulted in collapse of Tunnel 2 upstream part and
consequently serious damage to the outlet chutes and stilling basins of Tunnel 3 and 4. The
collapsed portion of Tunnel 2 was built and basins repaired.
2. The impervious blanket of the bed of the river developed hundreds of sinkholes and cracks
during the first filling of reservoir.
3. Excessive seepage through the dam foundation and its abutment also presented serious
problems. Intolerable erosion of the hill sides in the spillway plunge pool caused by the high
velocity jet (carrying energy equivalent to 18 million horse power at peak discharge) made
embankment that outflanked the Service Spillway Flip Bucket.
4.
5. Control of erosion of structures when the advancing sediment delta approaches the dam and
possible liquefaction of the delta material under earthquake shaking are other long-term
problems.
Remedial Actions
All of these problems except for the long-term sedimentation aspects, have been successfully using
some of the most innovative techniques:
1. A system of Sonar Surveys was established to detect the formation of any new sinkholes in the
bottom of the lake some 450 feet below the water level. A fleet of bottom dump barrages was
arranged for dumping soil of suitable specifications to plug any newly developed sinkholes. The
system has worked well and all underwater sinkholes have been properly repaired. The number
of sinkholes developed were 440 in 1975 which gradually reduced to zero in 1985.
2. The excessive energy carried by the water in Tunnel 4 which was a source of damage to its
stilling basin has been effectively controlled by the construction of modified flip bucket structure
(water velocity in the tunnel chute is about 140 ft. / second (43 meters / second).
3. Strengthening of the rock in the plunge pools of both the spillways has been carried out using
post tensioned anchors and massive rollcrete walls approximately 70 feet wide (21 meters) 200
feet (61 meters) high and totaling more than one mile (1.6 km) long. The roller compacted
concrete used at Tarbela paved the way for use of this method of rapid construction on several
new dams over the world.
4. The use of fibrous concrete which involves the addition of small needle-like steel fibres in the
concrete has also been used extensively and successfully at Tarbela to counter cavitational
potential due to extremely high velocity flows.
5. Injection of large quantities of air into fast flowing water has also been carried out to control
cavitation in concrete on a unprecedented scale.
6. Several epoxies have been tried for emergency repair of concrete and enormous experience has
been gained in the matter of selection of the most optimum materials.
7. In order to control seepage through the alluvial foundation of the dam, additional relief wells
had to be installed. Seepage control through the abutments was obtained by the use of
extensive additional grouting and provision of drainage curtains to supplement the work that
had been earlier carried as a part of the original design.
General
Many features of the Tarbela Dam thus incorporated major advances in the theory and practices of the
dam construction. The execution and operational experiences acquired at this unique project had
provided models of good practices which are now being widely applied throughout the world.
Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project Background:
Tarbela Dam Project, completed in 1976 initially, had installed capacity of 700 MW which was later on,
raised to 3,478 MW in stages contributing enormously to the economic development of the country.
Subsequently, Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project was planned to add 1,410 MW of additional
generation capacity on the existing irrigation Tunnel-4 with the financial support of World Bank enabling
maximum utilization of the available power potential of Tarbela Dam and making an important
contribution to the overall power sector of the country. The scheme has been implemented to generate
3,840 GWh of electric energy annually resulting in saving of approximately one million tons of furnace
oil which otherwise would be required for generating equivalent energy from thermal power station
costing approximately US$ 700 million annually.
Realization:
Tunnel-4 was originally intended for irrigation supplies only. Inception report submitted by Chas T. Main
International (USA) proposed conversion of Tunnel-4 to irrigation-cum-generation tunnel. Inception
Report of 1993 proposed installation of two turbines of 480 MW with combined capacity of 960 MW.
The study was re-conducted by WAPDA in 2010 in WCAP (Water Sector Capacity Building and Advisory
Services Project) funded by the World Bank. The project was, principally, divided in 02 distinct phases.
Assignment-A: comprised of Detailed Engineering Design, Preparation of Bidding Documents and Project
PC-I. Whilst, Assignment-B: comprised of implementation of the project. Consultancy Services Contract
was awarded for both the phases simultaneously before start of Assignment-A to avoid minimize gap
between the Design Phase and Implementation Phase.
Location:
Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project is located in the vicinity of existing Tarbela Dam, wabi District
of Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa province. The project is constructed on right bank of Indus River at Tunel-4
stilling basin.
Scope of Work:
The project is divided into three contract packages with following scope of work; Contract No.
T4HP/Civil; covering scope of, "Modification of the Tunnels 3 & 4 Intakes; Design, Supply, Installation
and Testing of Penstock and Construction of Power House". Contract No. T4HP/EM; covering scope of,
"Design, Supply, Installation, Commissioning and Testing of Electro-Mechanical Equipment". Contract
No. T4HP/ICB - 102; covering scope of. "Design, Supply, Installation, Testing and Commissioning of
Equipment of Tarbela 500/220kv existing Switchyard.
Consultancy Services
A Joint Venture known as T4CJV comprising of Mott MacDonald (UK) and Coyne et Bellier (France) in
association with MM Pakistan and ACE Pakistan was awarded consultancy services contract on
10.06.2010 with contract price of US$6.315 Million to carry out Assignment-A of the project.
Assignment-B covers Project Supervision & Implementation Assistance (PSIA) and was awarded to T4CJV
with initial cost of US$ 23.798 Million on 12.03.2012. Assignment- B also covers Pre-Qualification and
Bid Evaluation stages of the procurement cycle.
Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant (M&EC): Contract for Monitoring & Evaluation Consultancy Services
was signed with Snowy Mountains Engineering Consultants International Pty Ltd - Australia (SMEC) in
association with Engineering General Consultants Pakistan (EGC) with a contract price of US$: 2.9
million.
Civil Work Contractor
Contract for Civil Works was awarded to M/s Sinohydro Group Limited, China on 09.09.2013 with a
contract price of Eq. US$ 264.5 million. The contract commencement date is 29.10.2013 with 1946 days
completion period. The Contractor mobilized on site in October, 2013 establishing its camp in (Right
Bank, yards, plants) in free land between Switchyard and Base Workshop.
Electromechanical Contractor
Electro-mechanical Contract was signed with Consortium of Voith Hydro Germany and Voith Hydro
Shanghai on 14.02.2014 with accepted contract price of US$: 292 million. The contract commencement
date is 31.03.2014.
Switchyard Up-gradation Works Contract - T4HP/ICB-102
Switchyard Up-gradation Works Contract - T4HP/ICB 102 was signed with M/S ETERN-CCCE-HEI JV on
21.03.2016 with total cost US$ 27,482,876.28 (exchange Rate 101.70 PKR) for 400 days.
Benefits
Annually Tarbela reservoir releases about 9 MAF (11BCM) water for irrigation depending upon the
requirements of irrigated agriculture. Nearly 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) of agricultural land in
the provinces of Khyber PukhtunKhwah, Punjab & Sindh are receiving water from Tarbela storage.
During the entire operation period up to June 2020, total of 376.745 MAF (464.90 BCM) water has been
released which in monetary terms would mean an input to the National Economy worth Rs. 217.664
billion. Adding to it about 518.487 billion KWH electricity has been generated, giving the benefits of Rs.
155.546 billion. The total benefits amount to Rs. 373.210 billion. These benefits have already exceeded
the cost of the project after the first ten years of its operation. The existing generating capacity will be
enhanced by 3840 GWH (3.8 Billion KWH) after the completion of Tarbela 4th Extension Project having
generation capacity of 1410 MW, each.
Conclusion:
Industrial visit is considered as one of the technical methods of teaching. It helped us combine
theoretical knowledge with practical knowledge. We were able to see all the components of the Tarbela
Dam. Students realized how engineers work in an industrial environment, how different teams are
working together to run such a huge power plant. Students also realized the different problems being
faced by engineers in Tarbela Dam, How sediment problem is a huge issue that needs to be addressed in
order to keep Tarbela dam functional. Students also found out about all the latest techniques and
technologies being used by engineers in Tarbela Dam.
Industrial visits are significantly beneficial to all concerned parties in contributing towards the
development of the nation. For some organizations, the students undertaking the industrial
investigation have in fact overcome the scarcity of professional workforce. All the students were eager
to start their own professional careers after this industrial visit.
