Udaypur Cement Factory has been losing more than Rs2.5 million weekly due to abrupt power cuts which has severely affected output. 

Despite high demand for cement in the market, the manufacturer has not been able to operate at capacity for the last three weeks due to disruption in the power supply by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

The state-owned cement factory, which generated profits of Rs250 million in the last fiscal year, faces the prospect of falling into the red in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, said Nawal Kishor Sah, officiating general manager of the factory.

“We are going to see a loss in the beginning of the fiscal year due to the halfhearted attitude of the state-owned power utility despite having promised to deliver uninterrupted power supply,” said Sah. “We have been facing power cuts regularly for the last three weeks.” 

The NEA has not been supplying electricity for more than 15 hours daily, he added. “When we had round-the-clock power supply, we were churning out 600-650 tonnes of cement daily,” said Sah. “Due to sudden power cuts that last from a few minutes to several hours, we have not been able to produce more than 450 tonnes daily.”

As a result of the drop in production, the factory has been incurring losses of Rs2.5-3 million daily. The power cuts have not only hit production, they have led to frequent breakdown of the machinery installed in the factory. 

“Our losses increase when the plant and machinery in the factory break down due to sudden power cuts,” said Sah. “At times, we have had to close the factory for several days and bring technicians from India to repair the machinery which costs millions.”