Power cuts likely to end after 5 years
Himalayan News Service Kathmandu, January 29: The country will not suffer from load-shedding after five years, if the project of the Nepal Electricity Authority’s 309 MW Upper Tamakoshi project moves ahead smoothly.
The Employees’ Provident Fund has finally agreed to invest Rs 12 billion out of Rs 27 billion in the Upper Tamakoshi Hydroelectricity Project.
An agreement in this regard was signed by NEA managing director Arjun Kumar Karki and EPF administrator Shashi Bikram Shah today.
After the agreement with the EPF, other commercial banks are also expected to invest in the project, while locals of Dolkha will be allowed to invest 10 per cent of the budget.
“After signing the loan agreement, the door for possibility of constructing the project with domestic sources has opened. I can say there will be no more load-shedding in five years,” said Karki.
The project, located in Lamabagar of Dolkha, will generate 174 MW electricity in a year. The dam will be constructed 6 km south of China border and the location of the underground building will be at Gongar village of Lamabagar VDC. The feasibility study for the project was conducted in May 2005.
The NEA estimates that a year will take to complete the ongoing Detail Engineering Design process of the project with the construction to be started by January 2009, The project is expected to be completed by 2013.
Karki said an independent Upper Tamakoshi Power Limited Company has been established, which will not be influenced by any political and bureaucratic motive.
“The NEA team will work till power from the Upper Tamakoshi is generated and distributed to households by connecting it to the national distribution lines,” he said, adding the NEA has the backing of its employees to make the project successful.
