Kathmandu, Oct 2: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and Nepal Telecom (NTC) today took a stand on not allowing reduction of the capacity of the Trishuli 3B hydro power project.
The two government bodies that are jointly launching the project have pressed for retaining its capacity at 42 megawatt while the Energy Ministry and Department of Electricity Department have instructed on reducing its capacity to 37 megawatt.
The project chief Damodar Bhakta Shrestha said the need for reducing the capacity emerged after permission was granted to a private company to generate electricity from a location near the project.
The project to be constructed with an investment of eight billion rupees is being advanced like the Tamakoshi hydro power project. Project Chief Shrestha said if the private promoter is provided more facility, the NEA will incur an annual loss of Rs 220 million.
The NEA and NTC employees’ organizations have called for forwarding the project without hindrance.
NEA Employees’ Association Chairman Janardhan Bhattarai said if the capacity of the project is reduced it would inflict huge losses to the NEA and the investors. He said the decision to reduce the project’s capacity would not be acceptable in any way.
Source : The Rising Nepal
