As the project was not completed on time, the cost increased from 12 billion to 29 billion, electricity production started one and a half years ago, but the procedure for managing income was stuck in the ministry.
What you should know
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday inaugurated 14 thousand 300 hectares of irrigation and 4.71 megawatt hydro power house built in Janki Rural Municipality-9 Katase under the Rani Jamra Kulariya project at Chisapani, Kailali.
Although the construction of the hydropower house has been completed and inaugurated, the irrigation project is incomplete. There is an action plan to complete the project within 085/86 and provide facilities in 38 thousand hectares.
Under this multi-purpose project of national pride, irrigation, electricity, roads, bridges, embankments and agricultural development plans are being constructed and implemented in Kailali. Prime Minister Oli inaugurated the power house built on the canal under the Rani Jamra Kularia irrigation project on Tuesday. Electricity has been produced from three turbines by dropping water about 7 and a half meters below the main canal in Katase. According to Anish Shrestha, engineer of the project, electricity production started on 16 January 2080. The electricity produced by the canal of the
project has been sent to the Nepal Electricity Authority's substation at Lamki, from where it is connected to the national transmission through 33 KV. Although the electricity is regularly produced and sent to the national transmission line, the operation and management procedures have not been finalized yet. According to the project, a draft of the operation and management procedures was prepared and submitted to the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation for approval. "But the ministry has not yet approved the procedure," said Engineer Shrestha.
The ministry did not approve the procedures for the operation of the hydropower project, which is estimated to generate an annual income of 300 million, and the cost of the project has been increased . Despite sending electricity to the national transmission line, the project has not been able to receive income from it. A blueprint was prepared for the investment of power project construction to be raised in four years . The power project has been built at a cost of about one billion rupees.
Under the Rani Jamra Kularia irrigation project, 34 kilometers of main canal, 381 culverts and small bridges have been constructed and 245 kilometers of agricultural rural roads have been upgraded. Engineer Shrestha informed that 180 water distribution regulators, 75 water distribution structures, and 80 km of embankment were built in the Karnali River. He said that an embankment has been constructed to protect 6,451 hectares of land in Tikapur, Lamkichuha and Bhajani Municipalities, Janki and Joshipur Rural Municipality from the canal from river erosion. A seedling basin has been constructed for intake, sand filtering in the Karnali river .
Prime Minister Oli, who reached Kailali along with officials including the Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Deepak Khadka, also monitored the intake and canal built in the Karnali river at Chisapani during the inauguration of the hydropower house.
Project Information Officer Engineer Navin Paudel One hundred cubic meters of water is flowing per second in the main canal. Irrigation facilities have been made available in 14 thousand 300 hectares from the same canal.
Main canal branch and sub-branch canal towards Lamki are under construction . Irrigation facilities will be available in an additional 6,000 hectares from them. Irrigation facilities will reach 18,000 hectares through the canal that will be extended from Pathraiya to Kandra. The main goal of the project is to provide facilities including irrigation to 2 lakh people of Kailali
The cost of the project has increased. The cost of this project, which started construction in the financial year 067/68, has increased from 12 billion to 29 billion in a period of about 14 years . In February 2018, the Ministry of Irrigation approved the purchase master plan of 12 billion 63 crore 21 lakhs for the project which is targeted to be completed in 074/75 . But even half of the work could not be completed within the stipulated period . Ministry approved 27 billion 700 million 24 lakh updated procurement master plan with a target of 081/082 in Chait 074 . It was said that the government of Nepal will spend 17.74 billion 72 million and take 9.95 billion 51 million loan assistance from the World Bank. But by that time, only about 75 percent of the work could be done .
Project Information Officer Engineer Poudel said that the master plan costing 29.59 billion 77 million has been approved for the period up to 085/86. "Strengthening the infrastructure built by the project, changing the rate of compensation, controlling the Karnali, Mohana, Pathraiya rivers, etc., the work and the budget are also increasing," Information Officer Engineer Paudel said, "So far, 20.58 billion 56 million has been spent." According to Paudel, initially it was only said to provide irrigation facilities in 14,300 hectares.
Rani Jamra Kulariya Kula Water Consumers Original Committee President Kumarraj Shahi says that the work is being done in phases under the project . "In the first phase, intake, canal, electricity scheme has been constructed," he said, "water has been diverted to the Pathraiya river through Dudejhari". Construction of embankment, upgrading of road infrastructure, construction of bridges and culverts have also been done in Karnali, Patharia and Mohana. Under the project, contracts have been awarded separately for Rani, Jamra and Kularia sectors. According to Shahi, the work under the queen has been left unfinished by Gauri Parvati Construction Services. "That company is not working even if it is tried from any level," he said. According to Shahi, a cold store with a capacity of 1,000 metric tons is also being constructed in Tikapur under the project.
History of Rani Jamra Kularia Irrigation Project
The history of Rani Jamra Kularia Irrigation Project is more than a century long . Among the Rani, Jamra and Kularia clans in the eastern region of Kailali, the Rani clan is the oldest. Rani Kulo was built in 1953 by Rani Padamkumari Shah. That's why it is known as Rani Kulo, local residents say.
Tikapur region belonged to Suvarna Shamsher during Rana period. Being a Birta area, the Tharu caste was brought from Dang to build a village for the expansion of the settlement. At that time, it was a custom to send the Tharu to dig a pit and feed them a pig for digging a pit. About 48 villages of Tikapur area were provided with irrigation facility from Rani Kulo. Another Kulo Jamra has a history of being built by Colonel Dhundiraj Shahi about 120 years ago. Irrigation facilities were available to 38 villages at that time from that well. Kularia Kulo was built about 90 years ago by local farmers Madhu Mahato and Kanhaiya Mahato. At that time, the village was providing irrigation facilities to about 33 villages. The villagers used to build traditional water from the Karnali river and take it to make farming in Tikapur area green.
Locals say that there are 48 sub-branches and 1,000 subsidiary branches in the three main clans of Rani, Jamra and Kularia . Once a year, a digging campaign was conducted. After Badghar made a plan to dig a hole and informed all the villages, digging and repairing the hole would be done together, which the locals used to call Deshawar . In Deshawar, thousands of local residents used to eat and live together. Until the work was done, they would spend the night staying around the village . Rani Jamra Kularia irrigation canal was traditionally managed by the community. It was called the first and largest irrigation canal in South Asia," said Prem Bhat of Tikapur. In the same village, the government started the Rani Jamra Kularia Irrigation Project in 068 to build a multi-purpose modern structure with an irrigation system.
