The much-hyped 20-Megawatt Budhiganga hydropower project has not been able to complete its tender process, which has hindered progress.

The project called international tenders for the construction of its dam, tunnel and powerhouse three times. But all three had to be scrapped.

Information Officer Swatantra Kumar Karna said that the project called a two-stage tender in August 2021 but had to cancel it because only one company applied. In March 2022, the project called another tender but all the companies that applied sent bids higher than the stated contract amount. So that also was cancelled.

The same thing happened in the third tender the project called in September last year. So, that too went nowhere.

"We called three tenders but had to cancel all three because they did not satisfy the provisions of the Public Procurement Act. That is all I can say right now," Karna said.

The hydel project has now called a fourth tender that Karna said would expedite the work.

But the project was facing delays even before the tenders. The Detailed Project Report (DPR), which was supposed to be drafted in 18 months, took four years. The contract process has gone on for another three. Now, the locals are getting restless.

Deputy Mayor of Sanfebagar Municipality Shiva Bahadur Kunwar 'Shiloj' expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of work and asked the stakeholders to finish it soon.

The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 6 billion. Of this amount, Rs. 3.20 billion is to come from the Saudi Development Fund, Rs. 1.80 billion from the Kuwait Development Fund and the remaining from the Government of Nepal.