Achham — Government negligence, the silence of those representing Achham and leading the district, and foreign donors refusing agreements under various pretexts to suit their own interests have all prevented the construction process of the Budhiganga Hydropower Project from moving forward. The study for the project had begun nearly 30 years ago.
The project located in Sanfebagar Municipality–10 is being advanced for construction with loan investment from Gulf countries Qatar and Saudi Arabia to produce 20 megawatts of electricity. Project Chief Surendra Ghimire stated that this project, situated about 900 kilometers from the capital Kathmandu, aims to reduce load-shedding and increase the country’s electricity production capacity, thereby contributing to Nepal’s social and economic development.
According to him, although the project aims to be completed within 2025 at the estimated cost as per the specified standards, it has not yet been able to enter even the contract process. As per the project plan, electricity will be transmitted by developing a 132 kV transmission line from Budhiganga to Pahalmanpur in Kailali, covering a distance of 985 kilometers.
“Only community support activities are currently underway. The notice for the project contract has been published and the evaluation process is complete. However, the agreement has not yet been finalized,” he said. “To sign the agreement, prior consent from the donors is required. We have already sent all the necessary documents for that, but we have not received any response so far.”
He mentioned that delays in compensation distribution, failure to complete the DPR on time, and various other reasons have hindered the progress of the project. “It has only been a month since I took charge as the project chief. We are working to manage things after understanding the actual situation. We are also coordinating with the local leadership here,” he added.
According to the project, the engineering design report and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) have already been approved. The Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) report for the transmission line has also been approved. However, since the loan investment from Qatar and Saudi Arabia will not be sufficient for the project, correspondence has already been made with the Ministry of Finance to arrange additional budget. But the ministry has not yet been able to ensure the necessary funding sources.
Project Chief Ghimire stated that although correspondence has already been made with the Ministry of Finance regarding the funding shortfall—apart from the amount coming from the loan investment countries, which the Government of Nepal has agreed to manage—no concrete response has been received so far.
“We have completed all types of evaluations and studies. The contract notice has also been issued. But we haven’t received any information from the Ministry of Finance regarding the assurance of funding sources,” he said. “If the ministry had ensured the budget in a way that funding could be managed, we could have completed all legal procedures and invited the construction company to sign the contract.”
According to him, while the main office was previously based in Kathmandu, since last year all personnel have been centralized in Achham. “Currently, the project is involved in general tasks such as community support, road maintenance, road construction, and internal office work,” he said. “We haven’t been able to begin actual construction as the project hasn’t entered the contract process. We haven’t even had the opportunity to work actively.”
For the development of the project’s construction, a loan agreement worth 6 billion Nepali rupees was signed with the Saudi Fund for Arab Development on June 29, 2015. an agreement was signed, and in mid December-January 2016-17, the responsibility of preparing the DPR was given to the Australian company SMEC International Private Limited and Nepal’s Uday Consultancy. The DPR was completed only about a year ago. The Detailed Project Report was prepared at a cost of approximately 199.13 million Nepali rupees.
The study for the construction of the 20-megawatt capacity Budhiganga Hydropower Project, which the government plans to build itself, began as early as 1995 (2052 BS). According to the feasibility study and environmental impact assessment completed in 1997, the estimated total cost is about 1 billion Nepalese Rupees.
According to the project, after completing the engineering design and environmental impact assessment studies, a loan agreement of 600 crore Nepalese Rupees was signed with the Saudi Fund for Arab Development on June 18, 2014. Additionally, on July 4, 2012, a loan agreement of 5 million Kuwaiti Dinars (equivalent to 180 crore Nepalese Rupees) was signed with the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. The remaining amount is stated in the loan agreement to be borne by the Government of Nepal.
Source: Kantipur
