Ranijamra Kularia irrigation project, a national pride project, has started generation of 4.71 MW electricity. This has been connected to the national transmission system. The electricity produced by using irrigation canal water has been connected to the system since Tuesday (January 30).

Senior Divisional Engineer Bir Singh Dhami said that all the structures of the project have been tested and connected to the electricity system produced since yesterday.

"About 42 gigawatt hours of electricity will be generated annually from this center," he said. 3 units have been installed in the power house. The electricity produced by the project will be connected to Nepal Electricity Authority's Lamki substation, which is 6.5 km away. The necessary 33 kV transmission line up to the substation was constructed by the irrigation project itself.

He also said that the target of generating electricity from the project had already been delayed due to unseasonal floods in Karnali last year.

The work of this project was started with the goal of providing irrigation to a total of 38300 hectares of land. The government started construction of canal in Ranijamra in a modern way from 2066/67.

However, the local farmers have been building the canal as a 'farmer managed project' for more than 120 years. Although the government aimed to carry out its work from the 8th (2049-54) plan, it could not proceed due to various reasons.

Now water has been started to be sent from this irrigation canal from May 25, 2023. About 15,000 hectares of land has been irrigated through the 9 km long original canal.