DPR of Nalsing Gadh Hydro project set to begin

JAJARKOT, AUG 05

The preparation of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Nalsing Gadh Hydropower Project is finally set to begin 27 years after the project was identified.

The Nalsing Gadh Hydropower Project Development Committee has allocated Rs243.4 million for the DPR in the current fiscal year’s budget. Similarly, the government has earmarked Rs475.2 million for the development of the project.

Committee Chairman Sher Bahadur Shahi said that they had been studying the proposals submitted by international consultants. “The chosen consultant will also carry out the DPR along with an environment impact assessment,” he said. So far, a feasibility study on installing a weather station and other infrastructure has been carried out.

According to Shahi, feasibility studies of the building and camp plan, watershed management plan, modality study, land and property inventory survey, socio-economic baseline survey, hydrological and seismic survey and power atomization survey have been carried out. The committee has been acquiring land and distributing compensation and building physical infrastructure at the project site from the last fiscal year.

Shahi said that the committee had acquired 239 ropanis of land at the powerhouse site in the Dalli area of the district and distributed compensation amounting to Rs110 million. An additional 600,000 ropanis of land are scheduled to be acquired at the dam site. The development committee has also been constructing an access road from the dam site to the powerhouse and office building and has conducted a community cooperation programme, according to Shahi.  

The project has planned to complete constructing the access road leading to the dam site. Although Nalsing Gadh is a priority project of the government, its implementation has been delayed. “This is one of the cheapest projects, but it has not got enough political backing,” complained Shahi. The project is expected to affect 150 households at the project site.

Source: The Kathmandu Post