What you should know
Chilime Hydropower Company is the main promoter of the 102 MW Central Bhotekosi Hydropower Project under construction in Sindhupalchowk, which is going to produce test production within a month.
Currently, under the project, water is being flowed into the tunnel for 'wet testing' and testing of the machines of the power house. According to the project side, the electricity production, which was delayed due to the failure of the Nepal Electricity Authority to construct the transmission line on time, will start within a month.
The test was started by sending water to the tunnel from the last week of May. Ramgopal Sivakoti, Chief Executive Officer of Madhya Bhotekosi Company informed that after the completion of wet testing of the tunnel, the machines of the power house are now being tested.
'The work is being done diligently. In a few days, we will connect the electricity produced from central Bhotekosi to the transmission line of Khimti," Sivakoti said. "We will start production within this month at the latest." Although the
plan has been completed, the project officials have stated that there is a problem in the production due to local obstacles. They say that now there will be no obstacles and production will start. Bhotekosi Rural Municipality-5 in Sindhupalchok, Chakuma Dam and Power House in Bahrbise Municipality were built, but this project was stopped due to lack of transmission line.
The local affected demanded an increase in the compensation amount. In addition, the local level and political leadership took the stance that the project should provide funds for development plans such as hospitals, roads, etc., and obstacles were being created.
The project, which started construction in 2068, was affected by earthquakes, floods, covid, local obstacles and internal management weaknesses. Technicians say that since the flow of water in Bhotekosi is stable throughout the year, there will be no major impact on the income after generating electricity. The goal of earning three billion rupees annually by selling electricity from the
project has been taken. Shares worth more than one billion rupees have been invested in Bhotekosi area through district residents and district residents' companies. The civil work of
project is being done by Guanxing Hydro Electric Construction Bureau of China. The project, which was started with the goal of construction in four years, has investments from Chilime, Nepal Electricity Authority, Employees' Provident Fund and local companies. The
project has already sold shares to those affected and to the general public. According to the technicians of the project, it is seen that there will be good income after the start of electricity generation. It is estimated that the construction cost of the project will exceed 20 billion rupees. Initially, the cost was estimated to be 12.28 billion rupees. It has been almost 14 years since the project started.
