Bhote Koshi to be back online from this week

CHAUTARA , JAN 14 -

The Bhote Koshi Hydropower Project will start feeding electricity to the national grid from this week as the dispute over allotment of shares to locals has been resolved.

The 45 MW plant had been lying idle for the past three months as its flood damaged transmission towers could not be restored due to obstruction by local political leaders demanding a stake in the project.

A number of transmission towers were damaged by landslide and flooding in the Sunkoshi River last August.

After the company agreed to set aside 6 percent of the shares for the local people, the political parties allowed the project to repair the damaged infrastructure. The project has erected seven new towers since then.

Project Chief Narendra Prajapati said they had started installing the wire connectivity after constructing the towers.  “We are planning to provide electricity through them by the end of this week,” said Prajapati. According to him, the project will be evacuating 20 MW of electricity instantly.

Cadres and lawmakers of the ruling and opposition political parties had been preventing the project from constructing the towers since September 19. The project said it had been incurring losses of Rs 860 million daily as a result.

The construction started after Prime Minister Sushil Koirala ordered the authorities to move ahead with the repairs immediately. Koirala warned that such obstructions would deter potential investors at a time when the country needed much investment in the sector.

Following the Prime Minister’s directive, the company and the political parties reached an agreement on December 24.

The Nepali Congress had been demanding 10 percent of the shares while other political parties wanted a 35 percent stake in the company. Also when the project was launched, these political parties had been against it. They had protested against the power purchase agreement in dollar terms signed with the company.

Following the Prime Minister’s directive, the political parties became flexible over the issue of the dollar PPA, but eventually forced the company to give 6 percent of the shares to the locals.

However, the project has not said clearly how it would distribute the shares. Domestic investors own 95 percent of the project.

SOurce: The Kathmandu Post