Mid–Marshyangdi goes operational

Mid–Marshyangdi goes operational: Relief from outage still far away
ekantipur, 14-Dec-08

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal inaugurated the Mid-Marshyangdi Hydro-power Project (MMHP), the second largest power project of the country, amid a function here Sunday.

The much awaited 70 MW-capacity power project finally became operational Sunday. However, only one of the two 35 MW turbines is operational at present, generating merely 10 percent of its total capacity. The generated electricity has been linked to the 132 KV national transmission grid.

"The power project will be generating 10 percent power in its first phase. Power production will be 25 percent and cent percent respectively in the second and third phase," said MMHP project manager Sunil Dhungel.

The project was launched in 2001 and was scheduled for completion by Dec. 2004. However, it was delayed by four years due to some problems, including security related ones. The project management informed that construction work was obstructed for about two years at different times in the past.

German Development Bank has invested 178.26 million euros, Nepal Electricity Authority invested 67 million euros and the government, 61 million euros.

The project is arguably Nepal's most expensive hydropower project in terms of per unit cost.

Meanwhile, leaders of political parties and locals demanded of the prime minister that Lamjung should be a load shedding free district since it has the second largest hydroelectricity project here.

Power tariff hike likely

Even after the commencement of MMHP, people may not be able to breathe a sigh of relief immediately, said an official of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on Sunday.

These days, the country is facing severe power cuts, a 45-hour-week load-shedding schedule.

"There is no possibility of reducing the power outage immediately," said Sher Singh Bhat, director at NEA Systems Operation Department.

Currently, the country has a demand of 750 MW, but NEA has been supplying only 420 MW. MMHP, which has a maximum 70 MW generation capacity, will generate 35 MW before it reaches full capacity.

"We have not yet tested the capacity of this project. The machines don't produce exactly the same amount of energy as mentioned by the project," he said.

Still, Nepal is unable to import 60 MW electricity from India as the transmission towers, swept away by the Koshi flood, have not yet been repaired.

Bhat also said that during the dry months of March and April, the load-shedding schedule may go up.

Officials have said electricity tariff may rise as NEA has been bearing huge loss. The cabinet formed a five-member Electricity Tariff Fixing Commission led by former secretary Mahendra Nath Aryal on Dec. 3 to review the electricity tariff.

"NEA is at present bearing a loss of 70 Paisa per unit," said Shankar Prasad Koirala, Secretary at Ministry of Water Resources. "As the electricity tariff has not been reviewed since 2001, the commission may increase it." Koirala said NEA spends Rs. 7.40 for a unit of electricity, but it's selling price is Rs. 6.70 per unit.

An NEA official told the Post that it has been regularly pressuring the government to increase tariff.

"The NEA has incurred a loss of nearly Rs. 5 billion. So there is no option but to hike the tariff to make up for the loss," he said.