Expressing strong reservations against slow pace of works in 456MW Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project in Dolakha’s Bigu Rural Municipality, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has instructed all the concerned authorities to complete the national pride project within the given deadline.

Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Ltd (UTKHPL), a subsidiary company of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), is developing the peaking run-of-the-river hydroelectric project that is supposed to be completed and connected to the national grid early next year.

During an inspection of the dam and tunnel sites of the project along with the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong, Energy Minister Barshaman Pun, among other officials, PM Oli stated that the government is fully committed to completing this project within the given timeframe, although the construction works seem to be lagging behind the set target.

“The project should be completed on time, no matter what,” said the PM, asking all concerned to inform him directly in case of any problem.

“The prime minister also assured of immediate corrective measures, if needed,” informed Ganesh Neupane, spokesperson for the project.

The prime minister’s instruction today has come at a time when project officials have warned that dilly-dallying by the contractors could push back the completion deadline by at least 18 months.

While the contractors have been citing the bad condition of roads as the prime difficulty in transporting construction materials and equipment, the project developer has been alleging that the delays are ‘intentional’ to inflate the cost of the project.

With 94.04 per cent of work completed so far, project cost has already reached Rs 37.29 billion against initial estimate of Rs 35 billion. The construction cost is expected to balloon to Rs 49 billion by the time of completion, as per Neupane.

The project’s Chief Executive Officer Bigyan Raj Shrestha briefed the prime minister about the model of the power plant and matters related to financial management.

The project was originally scheduled to be completed in July 2016, but was delayed due to a number of factors, including the devastating earthquake of 2015, unrest along the southern plains that resulted in supply crisis, and various technical and social issues.

Altogether four international contractor companies are working on four different packages of the project. An Indian company named Texmaco Rail and Engineering that is handling the hydro-mechanical works of the project and a Chinese company named Sino Hydro Corporation that is handling the project’s civil works have been largely criticised for causing the delays.

In this regard, Chinese Ambassador Yu pledged to hold talks with the officials of the Chinese company and sort out the issue.

The project is being financed by NEA, which has 41 per cent stake. Other shareholders include Nepal Telecom (six per cent), Citizen Investment Trust (two per cent), Rastriya Beema Sansthan (two per cent), public (15 per cent), locals of Dolakha (10 per cent), depositors of Employees Provident Fund and employees of NT, RBS, CIT and EPF (24 per cent).