Jul 27, 2017-
Experts on hydropower and water resources recently visited the project site of Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project in a bid to finalise the detailed project report (DPR) of the much awaited mega project.
A December 2016 meeting of the governing body of Pancheshwar held in Delhi had asked Pancheshwar Development Authority (PDA), the bi-national entity to finalise the DPR by incorporating various inputs from a team that comprised experts from both India and Nepal. The Nepali experts in that team visited the project site this week, according to PDA CEO Mahendra Bahadur Gurung.
The nine-member team led by Water and Energy Commission Secretary Madhusudan Adhikari who visited the site included Madhav Belbase, joint secretary of the commission, Maheshwor Shrestha, water resource expert, Pravin Raj Aryal, joint secretary of the Energy Ministry, Bhrigu Dhungana, joint secretary of Foreign Ministry and Rajendra Bhandari, deputy director of Department of Mines and Geology among others.
“The team visited the site to take stock of the project affected area before finalising the DPR,” said Gurung. “They visited the affected areas that falls in both India and Nepal.”
The representatives of WAPCOS, an Indian state-owned company hired by the PDA as a consultant to prepare the DPR for the 4,800 MW project briefed the team about the project site. Shyam Sundar Godara, the team leader of WAPCOS informed the experts about the status of project site, affected areas and site where the dam will be built. According to Gurung, it will not take much time to finalise the DPR.
“Earlier, there were only talks but now there has been some works,” said Gurung.
Despite an agreement to expedite the much-delayed project during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal in August 2014, both governments have shown little interest in operationalising the project. The Indian side has time and again failed to send their secretary for water resource in the prescheduled joint meeting of the governing whereas Nepal too has not shown much urgency to do its job.
WAPCOS submitted the draft of DPR to the development authority in March 2016, but it is yet to be finalised. The PDA already missed the October 2016 deadline to finalise the DPR.
Source : The Kathmandu Post
