Tamakosi-V hydropower project received investment of Rs 13.74 billion loan from EPF

KATHMANDU: The money needed to build the 99.8 MW Tamakosi-V hydropower project in Dolakha’s Bigu Rural Municipality has been collected. The project will receive investment from the Employees’ Provident Fund of 13.74 billion rupees, with a total estimated cost of 21.14 billion rupees, including interest while it is being built.

Public share issuance will be used to raise equity for the remaining project that is a part of the public hydropower program. A total of 65 percent of the project’s debt and 35 percent of its equity have been raised, and financial management has been completed.

A tripartite loan agreement was signed by the Tamakosi Hydropower Company, the project’s promoter, and the Employees Provident Fund in the presence of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet. The contract was signed by Binod Bhandari, the company’s CEO, Jitendra Dhital, the fund administrator, and Kulman Ghising, the Nepal Electricity Authority’s executive director.

Minister Basnet stated in the program that green energy is Nepal’s potential and necessity for everyone, for prosperity, and for a clean environment. He added that work is being done to increase hydropower production and to expand the infrastructure of transmission and systems.

According to Basnet, efforts are being made to boost consumption and create a market for the export of any extra electricity used domestically. According to him, the project must be completed within the allotted time and budget, and any concerns raised when a development is delayed must be addressed.

Ghising stated that by using this electricity here, th e market is being guaranteed to export the excess electricity produced in Nepal. Ghising noted that the sale of electricity to those nations is receiving a good rate of electricity during the rainy season and that Bangladesh and India are eager to purchase the electricity produced in Nepal.

Administrator Dhital reported that the fund had invested more than 40 billion rupees in hydropower projects with a total capacity of about 800 megawatts. By completing the construction within the allotted time and budget, he emphasized, the project should be made into a success.

The project’s construction is being done with the intention of being finished in four years, according to Bhandari, the company’s CEO.

The water released after the Upper Tamakosi hydropower project generates electricity will be used to build the 456 megawatt Tamakosi Fifth cascade project. As a result, the project is viewed favorably because no additional structures such as the Tamakosi Panchau dam or sand settling pond (descender) are required.

Construction of the civil structure needed to transfer water from Upper Tamakosi’s power plant to the project’s tunnel is now complete. The hydromechanical project is still open. The project requires the construction of an 8 km tunnel, a powerhouse, a 2 km 220 KV transmission line, as well as other significant buildings.

To choose a builder for the project, a tendering procedure is currently being held. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been approved, along with the detailed design. The project needs to be built on about 133 acres of private land, which has been purchased.

Annual electricity output from the project will be 495,1 million units. The amount of electricity produced by the project will rise to 543.5 million units after it joins the Rollwaling River in Upper Tamakosi. The authority and the business have come to an agreement regarding the buying and selling of the project’s electricity.