Myagdi — Five hydropower projects with a total capacity of 162 megawatts have been constructed on the river flowing through Narchyang, located in Annapurna Rural Municipality-4 of Myagdi district. Additionally, one project with a capacity of 63.3 megawatts is under construction, and two more projects with a combined capacity of 173.14 megawatts are in the process of being developed.
According to Lok Bahadur Pun, the Ward Chairperson of Annapurna-4, the 5-megawatt Ghalemdi Khola, the 42-megawatt Mristi Khola, the 38-megawatt Nilgiri-1, the 71-megawatt Nilgiri-2, and the 6-megawatt Rele Khola hydropower projects have already been constructed and are in operation.
The 66.3-megawatt Madhya Kaligandaki Hydropower Project is currently under construction on the Kaligandaki River, which flows along the border of Narchyang. Preparations are also underway to begin construction of the 9.14-megawatt Super Ghalemdi Hydropower Project.
Ward Chairperson Pun informed that it has been proposed to construct the powerhouse of the 164-megawatt Kaligandaki Gorge Hydropower Project—promoted by Kaligandaki Hydropower Limited—in Narchyang.
The hydropower projects that have been completed and those under construction have transformed Narchyang. Ward Chairperson Pun stated that the hydropower projects have made a significant contribution to overall development—particularly in physical infrastructure, social, economic, and agricultural sectors.
A technical school has been established in the village, and buildings for health institutions have been constructed. Infrastructure such as roads, suspension bridges, and buildings built by the hydropower projects have provided convenience to the local residents. Local leader Tej Gurung said that the villagers’ economic status has changed due to land compensation, trade, agriculture, livestock farming, hotels, restaurants, contracting, transport services, share investments, and wage labor.
According to the constitutional provision, the royalty paid by hydropower projects to the government is distributed as follows: 50 percent to the federal government, and 25 percent each to the provincial and local governments. Prabha Secondary School, located in Narchyang, has started offering courses in hydro engineering.
After the Mristi Khola Hydropower Project built a suspension bridge over the Kaligandaki River in 2014, Narchyang was connected to the road network. The project also constructed two additional suspension bridges — one at the border of Bensi and Patar near Mristi Khola and another leading from the dam to the tunnel — and built a 14-kilometer road up to Fedi.
After the Nilgiri Khola Hydropower Project constructed an access road from Chhotepa to Humkhola, transportation became easier, leading to the development of the Annapurna Base Camp as a new tourist destination.
Ward member Shyam Purja said that after the construction of the road leading to the Relekhola Hydropower Project site, it will be connected to the road network from Besi in Narchyang to Lekgaun. Locals have invested promoter shares in the Ghalemdi and Mristikhola Hydropower Projects as residents of the affected areas. The promoter shares of Nilgiri First, Second and Relekhola Hydropower Projects are in the process of being issued.
To connect the electricity generated by the hydropower projects built and under construction on the Kaligandaki and nearby rivers to the national transmission system, the Nepal Electricity Authority has constructed a substation in Dana, the neighboring ward of Narchyang. The 220 kV substation, completed in 2020 , currently connects electricity generated by the Ghalemdi, Mristi, and Thapakhola Hydropower Projects to the central grid.
Pramod Shrestha, the director of Ghalemdi Khola and former vice president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, stated that after substations and transmission lines were established in Annapurna-3 Dana of Myagdi and Kushma-2 Khurkot of Parbat, investor activity in hydropower project construction in the Kaligandaki and surrounding areas has increased.
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