After the water is released from the tunnel in central Bhotekoshi, the quality is questioned

Chilime Hydropower Company is the main promoter of the project, which has paid only 5 billion in interest during this period.

After long efforts, the quality of the project's structure has been raised after the tunnel burst and water leaked during the 'wet testing' for power generation. Even after seven years have passed since Nepal Electricity Authority started construction of substation in Bahrbise municipality, there is no possibility of immediate completion. Even after 9 months of blocking the transmission line by locals, no solution has been found. Although a long time has passed since the construction started, instead of generating electricity, new problems are being added to the project. There has been no reliable effort to solve the problem of the project which is paying interest of only 40 to 50 lakhs per day, i.e. about 150 million per month. The time of power generation of the project, which is surrounded by problems, is becoming uncertain.

Even after a month and a half of work stopped due to water leakage in the tunnel, the Chinese contractor involved in the construction has not yet prepared a proposal for the work to be done. According to the technician, the issue of quality that has arisen in the past in the construction of the project has arisen due to the water coming out of the ground after the tunnel burst. During the construction of the tunnel, in November 2017, an audio tape was made public in which there was a discussion of 20 million bribes in collusion between the technical staff of the project and the contractor to reduce the quality of the work. The 'wet testing' of the project, which was embroiled in internal strife for a long time during the construction of

, started in the last week of January. Due to the delay in the construction, the double loss has started where the interest keeps increasing but there is no income. The Bhotekoshi company has sent a letter to the consultant asking for the reason for such a situation. "We have asked the consultant for information as to why such a situation has arisen," said a Bhotekoshi company source.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of the hydropower company, Ramgopal Sivakoti, said that after studying the issue of water coming out of the tunnel, a technical expert instructed the Chinese contractor company involved in the construction to prepare a proposal to move forward. He says that the problem of water leakage in long tunnels has also happened elsewhere. "Wet testing is done to identify the problem," he said. He argues that this should not be considered a big problem except for waiting for some time for electricity generation. Sivakoti said that after determining the problem and starting the work, the work will be completed in two-three months at most.

How did the tunnel leak? According to the technicians of the

project, the water came out from the area near the local borderland in 4 to 5 km of the 7 km tunnel. Locals say that there was a stone quarry at that location before the project was built. Water has come out in the area of ​​about 800 to 900 meters of the tunnel. The initial estimate is that the surface of the upper outer surface of the tunnel where the water leaked is about 150 meters and the lower outer part is only 120 meters.

In the last week of December, water was sent to the tunnel in the third week of January after the structure of the dam was completed during wet testing. A few days later, water started leaking from the tunnel. After a month and a half since the water leak, experts and technicians are studying the tunnel. A technician of the project says that it is not certain whether to use only a special type of plaster inside the tunnel or to use a slope (bed-lining of the lower level). Project sources say that even though the present location of the tunnel can be detected from the place where the water has leaked, negligence has been done. Sources claim that there is a weakness in the supervision of the tunnel due to the negligence of the consultants and project technicians.

tunnel quality and tape case

The audio record of Govind Poudel, the representative of Guanxing Hydro Electric Construction Bureau, the contractor company building the project, offered a bribe to the then CEO Manikumar Kafle on the condition that he would work as he said. The local concern committee in the presence of project chief Sunil Lama released the audio at the project site in 077 November. Mainly during the construction of the project, the operator, consultant and contractor company are involved. According to the code of conduct of

construction, the owner (Votekoshi Company) cannot communicate directly with the contractor. Generally, the director should communicate about the project through the consultant appointed by him. But in the audio, as a representative of the Chinese contractor company, Paudel proposed to CEO Kafle and engineer Dinesh Bhandari of the consulting company to reduce the quality of the construction of the project and to provide a certain amount for that. Kafle said yes, only yes about the proposal. He has not spoken clearly about financial matters. Poudel has informed Bhandari that he has kept the money in the bank.

Paudel has asked Engineer Bhandari to look at the 'message'. Engineer Bhandari is a project quality control technician on behalf of the consulting company Tractable Engineering Germany (GMBH). In the conversation with Bhandari, it has been proposed that the quality of the tunnel should be tested in one month. According to the records, Bhandari has informed that he will pass the proposal of the contractor who can check the quality of the tunnel in one day. During the conversation, Paudel asked Bhandari whether it is Chinese money. Poudel has said that he will keep taking out 'cash'.

The then project chief Lama wrote a letter to Bhotekoshi company saying that he could not pay the contractor due to lack of quality work. On the basis of the letter, the payment of crores of rupees to the contractor was stopped as the quality was questioned. Engineer Bhandari, who was involved in the bribery scandal, resigned after many issues were revealed in the project. None of the accused in this case left the project without publicizing their views. The board of directors of Bhotekoshi company kept the tape issue secret and proceeded with the project. A complaint was also filed with the Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission to investigate the tape record. But this matter was not investigated. After the

tape case came out, CEO Kafle was removed and Ramgopal Sivakoti was made CEO. After that, the work of the project gained momentum. Sivakoti facilitated the construction of the tunnel and made it ready for power generation. However, the construction of Ayojan's tunnel was completed before reaching Sivakoti. In 2007, questions were being raised about the quality of the project's tunnels and other structures, and the internal conflict between the planning board and the field staff was at its peak. At that time, other technical staff of the project, company officials and the contractor company involved in the construction of the tunnel stood together against the project chief Lama.

Substation and transmission line not built

The construction of the substation started by the Nepal Electricity Authority itself has not been completed even after 7 years. It has been 9 months since local residents blocked the transmission line used to send electricity to the substation. While the final tests for power generation are being carried out, not only the tunnel, but also the construction of some of the project's structures, have seen problems. Even if the production is started, electricity cannot be sent if the transmission line is not completed.

The electricity produced through 220 kV transmission line should be connected to the substation. The construction was delayed due to problems such as covid, floods, earthquakes, internal conflicts between project staff and wards and local obstacles. Kulman Ghising, the then executive officer of Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Company, initiated the project with the goal of starting in 2013 and completing it in 2017. Chilime, local investors, the electricity authority and the public's shares are the main investors of the project.