Rahughat Hydropower Project: Panel to resolve price adjustment dispute
MYAGDI, JAN 06 -
The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and India’s IVRCL Infrastructure Projects have agreed to resolve the price adjustment dispute, with the formation of a high-level committee in the 23MW Rahughat Hydropower Project .
IVRCL, which has been awarded the civil engineering work of the project, has halted work for the last month demanding a hike in the cost. The contractor has been assigned to construct 12km excess road, 7km tunnel, power house and dam, among others.
The high-level committee with representatives from the contractor, independent experts and project officials will make recom-mendations on the issue. “Some of the initial work has been completed,” said Raj Bista, site in charge of the project.
“But the contractor started demanding price adjustment when major work is to be undertaken.” Bista, who is also a civil engineer, said the contractor has been asked to resume work at the earliest.
NEA had awarded the project to the Indian contractor at around Rs 2.5 billion.
The contractor, however, said it has not halted project work. “Construction work is being carried out at a slow pace, though,” said Udaya Bindu Sharma, administration manager of IVRCL.
Issuing an eight-point notice a few days ago, NEA had stated that it was ready to hold talks with the contractor. The authority has also said the environmental impact assessment (EIA) study and the process of procurement of explosives has begun.
Locals, who were excited with the beginning of the project construction, are now upset due to tensions between NEA and the contractor. They said more than a dozen projects in the area would be obstructed if Rahughat was stopped.
“The locals, in association with political party, civil society and businesspersons, have extended support for the early completion of the project,” said Bal Krishna Subedi, a member of the Rahughat Concern Team. “We want the project to come into implementation at any cost.”
Source: The Kathmandu Post
