ISLAMABAD, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- The China-built Suki Kinari Hydropower station in northwest Pakistan started impoundment on Wednesday.

The successful start will lay a solid foundation for the project's operation on schedule under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Located in the Mansehra district of the South Asian country's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the 884-megawatt hydropower project was invested and constructed by the Overseas Investment Company of China Gezhouba Group.

Noting the impoundment as a milestone, He Xiongfei, the chairman and general manager of the Hydropower plant said that the overall construction progress of the project has exceeded 98 percent.

The dam body filling, diversion tunnel lining, pressure steel lining installation, unit installation and other key engineering milestones have been completed on schedule, he added.

The hydropower project started construction in January 2017. Once getting functional, the CPEC project will annually generate some 3.21 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity, replacing 1.28 million tons of coal and reducing 2.52 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, according to the Chinese manager.

It will significantly optimize Pakistan's energy structure, boosting the country's economic and social development, he added.