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Kathmandu. 80 percent of the construction of two 110 megawatt capacity hydropower projects on the Nilgiri river at Narchang in Myagdi has been completed.
The 38 megawatt Nilgiri first and 71 megawatt Nilgiri second hydropower projects are under construction on the Nilgiri River flowing from the Annapurna and Nilgiri mountains. Nilgiri Hydropower, the developer of both the projects which started in 2076, has said that the construction of the structure has reached its final stage.
Ratna Bamjan Tamang, Engineer of Nilgiri Hydropower said that work is going on to complete the construction of tunnel, power house, dam and transmission line.
Nilgiri 2,000 meters of the first tunnel and 4,200 meters of the second tunnel have been completed and are being sloped. Tamang informed that the work of penstock tunnel digging has been completed and the penstock pipe connection work of the first 800 meters and the second 1500 meters has been started.
A structure has been built in such a way that the water coming out of the Nilgiri first power plant can be dammed and put into the Nilgiri Cascade tunnel. A dam has been constructed at Humkhola of the Nilgiris and a power house at Chhotepa.
A 14-km access road was constructed from the cascade’s power station Dobhan to Humkhola, the first Nilgiri dam, after spending two years in the Akkare hills and difficult terrain. Project engineer Keshav Wagle said that work is being done with the goal of completing both projects simultaneously within the next six months.
Currently, 500 technical manpower and workers have been mobilized in the project. These two projects are located in remote areas of Narchang. A road has been constructed to reach the construction site of the project after breaking through the heavy rain. Geographical difficulty, not being able to work during snowfall in winter and corona epidemic are the challenges seen in the construction of this project.
This is the biggest project in Myagdi district, which was built with the investment of the private sector. The structures of the project have been built in the foothills. Both projects estimated to cost around 16 billion are of ‘run of the river’ nature.
The electricity generated from the Nilgiri river will be connected to the central grid from the Dana substation of 220 KVA capacity. For the construction of transmission line of 220 KV capacity of 8.5 km distance connecting Dana sub-station via Chotepa-Dobilla, 23 out of 24 towers have been constructed and wire pulling work has been completed.