Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned power utility is carrying out urgent maintenance works at 70MW Middle Marsyangdi Hydropower by deploying 400 people who are working round the clock.

According to the press release issued by NEA, repair work is being carried out to mitigate the risk of erosion on the left side of the dam. They are building a protection wall at the left side of the dam to prevent soil erosion.

Operation of the river type hydropower plant was stopped from Thursday night. The power utility is making use of the downtime to conduct maintenance works on the power house as well.

NEA will resume plant operation on March 1.

NEA Managing Director Kulman Ghising visited the project site on Saturday and instructed project officials to complete the maintenance works as soon as possible.

Despite the shutdown of a crucial power plant that was generating 70MW of energy during peak hour, the NEA said that the country will remain free from power cuts. “Currently, we are using the Kulekhani I and Kulekhani II Hydropower Projects at full capacity to prevent power cuts,” said Ghising.