National 4 (Spotlight Weekly)

Whose Problem Is It?

Villagers in Sindhupalchok are angered by delay in power transmission

By AKSHAY SHARMA

"It's a dream come true," said Amrit Tamang, a tenth grader at Jyamirey in Sindhupalchok district, when he heard the news that his village would have access to electricity soon. "Finally I would be able study for my School Leaving Certificate Exams (SLC) at night," he exclaimed. But his dreams are about to be shattered because the project is caught in structural flaws.

Although Nepal is known for its immense hydropower potential, only 15 percent of the population has access to electricity. Those who do are paying one of the highest tariffs in the world. Over the years, the government has been working to expand electricity transmission through rural electrification programs.

The construction work specified by the Seventh Electrification Project, implemented with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), was completed and handed over to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) two years ago. However, power has not been supplied yet and the local people are unhappy with the NEA. Some of the newly constructed structures have already suffered serious damage.

The project, which was implemented at a cost of Rs. 45 million with the cooperation of the ADB, was aimed to supply power to 3,000 households. It had been handed over to the NEA Sunkoshi Branch in March 2000. All construction work related to transmission to 10 village development committees (VDC) in the western part of Sindhupalchok district have been completed. But power has been supplied only to Shikharpur VDC. Residents of Ichok, Madyakal, Talamarang, Duvachaur, Jyamirey, Lagarchey, Bhoteynamlang, Melamchi and Baskharka are still in the dark.

"The villagers had been asked to complete their domestic wiring as early as possible. They were also told that power would not be supplied later to those not finishing the wiring in time," says Yog Bahadur Thapa of Talamarang. "Many people borrowed money to complete the wiring, but power not been supplied yet. The villagers are understandably up in arms," he said.

Structures along the periphery of the 92-kilometer main area and the distribution lines have been damaged. The poles show clear indications of impending danger and wires are seen hanging loose in many places.

Had the power been supplied, the NEA could have earned between Rs. 4 million and Rs. 5 million annually, the concerned employees say. Instead, it has ended up paying Rs 450,000 a year in interest on the loan.

Sunkoshi Power Centre has written to the central office of the NEA on the estimated cost of repair and maintenance of the structure. But budget allocations have not yet been made. The capacity of the substations has to be increased, sources say.

The dreams of people like Amrit will remain unfulfilled before those structures are repaired. In the meantime, the contractor and technical personnel are blaming each other for the flaws.