Rahughat Hydropower Project in Rahughat, Myagdi district, stalled for the past five years has resumed construction. Developed by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) in 2066 BS, the project halted in 2066 BS after the contracting company went bankrupt.
Although, the contractor was agreed upon to complete the project in 2070 BS, only approximately 10 percent of construction work has completed in five years. Construction of a tunnel under the project has started a week ago, said Ganesh KC, managing director of the NEA’s subsidiary Raghuganga hydropower limited.
The project has initiated a ‘company model’ after breaking previous agreement, said KC. Indian JP Associates has been awarded the contract to complete the project for Rs 6 billion. The contract was made on November 21, 2017, and the company was given a green-signal to start the project on May 24, 2018. Capacity of the project has been increased to 40 megawatts from previous 32.
The contractor has started digging the tunnel and construction work would be expedited, said KC. Likewise, construction of 40 meters long motorable road leading to Raghuganga river at Bukla has started.
Approximately 282 ropanis of land at Piple, Jhi and Dagna have already been acquired for the project. Of estimated Rs 8.59 billion funds for the project, Exim Bank in India will provide a soft loan of Rs 44 million, and the Nepal Government and NEA will bear the remaining funds. RSS
