The World Bank has approved a financing package from the International Development Association (IDA), the Bank's grant and low-interest arm, to help mobilize commercial financing for the 2160 MW Dasu Ⅰ hydropower project in Pakistan. The package, which was approved on 10 June, consists of an IDA credit of US$ 588.4 million and an IDA partial credit guarantee of US$ 460 million. The cost of developing Dasu Ⅰ on the main Indus river is estimated at about US$ 4.2 billion. The run-of-river plant, loated about 240 km upstream from the Tarbela dam, is designed to be expanded later to 4320 MW at a low additional cost, the World Bank has said. The project, in addition to facilitating hydropower development in Pakistan, will also help build the Water and Power Development Authority's (WAPDA) capacity to harness the country's vast hydropower resources in a sustainable manner, in particular the Indus Cascade. The World Bank said that this was its first attempt to finance a large infrastructure project on a sequential basis through a combination of credits and guarantees to mobilize the full financing over the construction period.
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