𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘺 : My Visit to Dargai Hydropower

 October 2012

Dargai Hydropower Plant is a small, low-head, run-of-the-river hydroelectric power generation station with about 20-megawatt generation capacity, located at Dargai, Malakand District, KPK province of Pakistan on the flows of Swat River and about 210 km from Pakistan's Capital Islamabad, 45 km from the city of Mardan.

𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘺 : 𝘔𝘺 𝘝𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘐𝘐 𝘏𝘺𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 2012

October, 2012

Malakand is an 81MW hydropower project. It is located on the Swat river/basin in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The project is currently active. It has been developed in a single phase. Post-completion of construction, the project got commissioned in 2008.

Siege of Malakand & A British Era Check Post

 October 10, 2012

During my visits to Jabban and Malakand's III hydropower sites in 2012, my eyes frequently attract a site of an abandoned check post located on one of the hilltops. It was constructed in the British era. 

The Mughals built a fort here, known as Chakdara Fort in 1586, occupied in 1895 by the British, who built the present fort in 1896 and were forced to defend it during the Siege of Malakand in 1897.

The Siege of Malakand was the July 26 to August 2, 1897 siege of the British garrison in the Malakand region of colonial British Indias NWFP. The unrest caused by this division of the Pashtun lands led to the rise of Saidullah, a Pashtun Fakir who led an army of at least 10,000 against the British garrison in Malakand. Although the British forces were divided among a number of poorly defended positions, the small garrison at the camp of Malakand South and the small fort at Chakdara were both able to hold out for six days against the much larger Pashtun army. 

Chakdara has been an important center for the last 3500 years and is littered with remains of the Gandhara grave culture, Buddhist sites, and Hindu Shahi forts. The ancient route from Afghanistan via Nawa Pass and Swat River crosses Chakdara.

A British Era Rest House at Jabban Hydropower

 May 2, 2012

Habib Rafiq (Pvt.) Limited is one of the biggest construction companies in Pakistan. I joined them in 2012, and one of my assignments as a civil engineer was Jabban Hydropower Construction. 

To meet the requirements of irrigation in Malakand valley and the districts of Mardan and Swabi, an irrigation scheme was planned by the British Government in 1903. The plan consists of headwork at Amandara near Batkhela on River upper Swat, an unlined irrigation channel 7.2 Km long up to Malakand Pass, and excavation of a 17.5 Ft dia, 3.4 Km long tunnel underneath Malakand Pass. A network of irrigation canals including Abazi and Machai branches and their distributaries were also part of the project. The project started in 1907 and was completed in 1914.

In 1930, a hydropower project was planned by the British Government, at Jabban, 10 Km from Dargai town Malakand Agency. For this purpose, a free power tunnel called Barkat tunnel was excavated on the right side of the outlet regulator of the Benton tunnel. The length of the tunnel is 0.97 Km and its diameter is about 14 feet. The discharge capacity of Barkit tunnel is 1200 cusecs. Jabban hydropower projects were started in 1934 and completed in 1937.

The 70-year-old powerhouse was badly damaged due to a fire incident on 12-11-2006. The extent of damage was such that it was not possible to restore the operation of the existing units. Moreover, the plant equipment had already outlived its life. The situation necessitated carrying out the Rehabilitation of Jabban Hydroelectric Power Station on a "Fast Track Basis" by the installation of new machines of higher efficiency at the same site.

The Rehabilitation of the hydropower station was completed in 2013 with a total cost of Rs3.8 billion by the contractor HRL-CCPG JV (Habib Rafique Ltd. (Pakistan) & Central China Power Group China).

A British-era rest house is still present at Jabban Hydropower. 

Shrine of Hazrat Hassan Shah Shahdara

 

17 July 2022

On the east of the Mughal emperor's Jhangir tomb, an embankment for flood protection is present. Above it, a carpeted road presents that connects Kala Shah Kaku road. While traveling a few kilometers on this carpeted road one can see a muddy path that leads to an old mound site, where now a graveyard and a few old tombs are present under groves of old banyan trees. A tall tomb in this graveyard is attributed to the Shrine of Hazrat Hassan Shah. Not much is not known about the history of this tomb.