The 53.85 MW Upper Chameliya Hydropower Project will require an estimated Rs 11.15 billion for its construction.

According to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the project, the cost per megawatt of the electricity produced by the project will be Rs 206.046 million. The run-of-river project is being developed by the Department of Electricity Development. The project will be situated in Api Himal Rural Municipality-1 of Darchula district.

The project will be constructing a 6.5 meters high and 30 meters long dam to divert water from the Chamelia River. Similarly, a 221 m long steel-made headrace pipe with a diameter of 1.95 m and a 43.72 m long siphon will be used to take water into the headrace tunnel. The tunnel will be of three meters diameter and 5.588 km long.

Likewise, the surface penstock pipe will be 1,217.96 m long while the length of the underground penstock pipe will be 653.67 meters. The power house has been proposed to be built at the location 65 m above the confluence of the Golagad River of Api Himal Rural Municipality-1.

A land size of 26.0466 hectares is estimated for the construction and operation of the project. Out of this, 23.7363 hectares falls in the state-owned Apinampa Conservation Area while the remaining 2.3103 hectares will be acquired private land.

The design discharge of the project is 7.12 cubic meters per second and the net head is 881.81 meters. This project will produce an average of 319.12 GWh of electrical energy annually. It will have a 1,217.96 m long penstock pipe on the surface and 653.67 m of the pipe underground.

The project is targeted to complete its construction in the next four years. With its completion, a 33 km transmission line will be constructed to evacuate its electricity to the Balach Substation constructed in Shailya Shikhar Municipality-1 of the same district.

Govt expediting integrated supply system to improve power quality: Minister Basnet

KATHMANDU: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Shakti Basnet has said the government is upgrading electricity production, infrastructure development, transmission line construction and distribution system in an integrated way.

Speaking at a parliamentary Infrastructure Development Committee meeting on Thursday, Minister Basnet said the government is working to increase access to electricity to cent percent population in the next two years. According to him, the government has targeted electrification in all the locations of five provinces, except Karnali and Sudurpashchim provinces, by the end of the next fiscal year.

Basnet also added that the government is building two additional transmission lines in the next one month.