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Kathmandu Tuesday March 06, 2001 Falgun 23, 2057.
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Chamar Joint Boycott Committee, Siraha taking out a protest rally against the racial
discrimination of the people from the downtrodden communities in the capital on Monday. |
Japan to help build Kulekhani III
Detailed engineering works to begin soon
By Surendra Phuyal
KATHMANDU, March 5 - After Kulekhani I and II, the government is now all set
to go for Kulekhani III, which is proposed to generate 42 megawatts of electric power
especially during the peak season.
Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) officials today said that Japan has shown
"keen interest" in the project, and that a team of experts is arriving here
"very soon" to start the detailed engineering works of the project.
Officials at NEA’s Planning Division say the project will replace the
diesel-run Thermal and Multi-fuel plants once constructed. The diesel-run plants currently
generate a total of 28 megawatts of electricity.
Based in Hetauda, Marshyangdi and Biratnagar, these fossil fuel-run plants
are operational mostly during the dry seasons (winter and spring) when hydropower
generation from the country’s run-of-river projects drops to a minimum.
"JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) officials informed us
last week that they are interested in the project," Prachar Man Singh, Director in
Chief of the Planning Division told The Kathmandu Post today. "An appraisal mission
comprising of Japanese engineers and officials is coming here very soon. They are slated
to arrive here during the second or third week of this month (March)."
According to Singh, survey and feasibility works of the project have already
been carried out by NEA, the state-owned power authority that is solely responsible for
generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. "Geological survey works
are still being carried out there," he said.
"If everything goes according to the plan, the project will start
operation before 2005," he added.
Uttar Kumar Shrestha, another senior NEA official, said it could take one
year to complete the detailed engineering works and another three years to actually build
the project. "Actual cost of the project can be worked out only after the assessment
and detail engineering works are over," Singh added.
On completion, Kulekhani III will be the third power plant run mainly by the
monsoon water stored in the Kulekhani reservoir, height of whose mammoth dam stands 114
meters. Meant specifically for dry season, Kulekhani I generate 60 megawatts, and
Kulekhani II generates 32 megawatts of electricity from the water discharged by the
former.
Now Kulekhani III is set to be in the pipeline means that the plant will
again generate electricity from the water discharged by the Kulekhani II power plant,
officials say.
The Kulekhani I was constructed with the World Bank assistance in the early
1980s and the Kulekhani II with the Japanese assistance in the mid-1980s, according to
Singh.
Need for a power plant like Kulekhani III, NEA officials say, stems from the
fact that power generation from run-of-river hydro-projects drops drastically during the
dry season, directly affecting the installed power generating capacity of all the
remaining projects which are run-of-river type. Kulekhani is the only reservoir-type
project in the country.
According to information made available today by NEA, as of March 1 existing
power plants in the country were contributing a total of 312 megawatts of electricity to
the National Power Grid. They contribute nearly 400 megawatts during the wet season.
Due to the rising demand for power, NEA is currently distributing 378
megawatts of electricity to its consumers, out of which 66 megawatt is exported to
neighboring India.
According to Singh, power generation from Khimti-I plant - which has an
installed capacity to generate 60-plus megawatts of electricity - has now dropped to 24
megawatts, and Bhotekoshi plant - with an installed capacity to generate 36 megawatts - is
producing only 28 megawatts.
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