China Eximbank agrees to a $67.35 million preferential buyer’s credit (PBC) loan for the Ghabir Dam Project (linked to Record ID#35904)

Project narrative

On July 25, 2009, the China Eximbank preferential buyer’s credit loan agreement for the Ghabir Dam Project was finalized. Ghabir Dam is an irrigation project in Chakwal District of Punjab Province. It is located on the Ghabir River, a tributary of Soan River, 9km from the village of Danda Shah Bilawal. It features a 138-foot-tall, 3,117-foot-long earth core rockfill dam. With the construction of the proposed dam, it was expected that the flood waters of Nai Baran River would be stored in a reservoir, which would be annually available for developing 25,000 acres of irrigated agriculture. It was also envisaged that this project would produce 0.45 MW of power generation, and that the damming of the Nai Baran would save the flood water for irrigated agriculture development, power generation and water supply for drinking and other domestic uses. The original feasibility study was completed in January 2007. On September 3, 2009, PC-I worth Rs 2.111 billion was approved by ECNEC. Originally, a contract was extended to M/s Dongfeng-Technical Associates & Habib Construction JV at a contract price of Rs 6.01 billion on September 9, 2010. However, due to insufficient funding the contract was cancelled. In 2012, a revised PC-I amounting to Rs 11.679 billion was submitted to the Ministry of Water & Power for approval of ECNEC. A groundbreaking ceremony for this project took place on January 21, 2010. A joint venture company (owned by Donfang Electricity Corporation and Habib Construction) was selected as the contractor responsible for project implementation. However, this project encountered financial difficulties during project implementation and China Eximbank eventually withdrew its financial support for the project.