Dordi Khola Hydropower Project being developed by Himalyan Power Partner in Lamjung district is scheduled to start generating electricity in the next seven months, according to the company. The project office has claimed that around 80 percent of the project’s construction work has been completed, putting the 27MW project on track to start commercial electricity production by August, 2019.

According Guru Parsad Dhakal, managing director of the company, construction of the dam, tunnel and power house of the project is at the final stage.

“We have to install gates at the dam and the power house needs some work,” said Dhakal. Similarly, the project has completed digging 2.27-km of the 2.77-km long tunnel which will be used to channel water from the Dordi River to the power plant.

The company started construction of run-of-the-river type hydropower project four years ago with an aim to complete the project by April, 2018. However, the project missed its completion deadline due to a number of reasons including the earthquake, trade blockade by India, flooding during the monsoon season and technical difficulties among others, according to Dhakal.  

The project has built its dam at the Dordi River in Dordi Rural Municipality while its power house is under construction at the bank of the Marshyangdi River in Besisahar Municipality. According to Dipak Gyawali, engineer of the project, three turbines have been installed at the powerhouse—each with the capacity to produce 9MW of electricity.   

The project office claims that it will generate 147.69 gigawatt hours of electricity annually.

It plans to sell 142.31 gigawatt hours of electricity to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)—the state-owned power utility. The company expects to lose the remaining electricity as transmission leakage. The company will get Rs4.80 per unit of electricity during the wet season while Rs8.40 per unit during the winter.

The project which is being developed with an investment of Rs4.23 billion, received investment from non-residential Nepalis, IME Group, project affected locals and the general public. A consortium of eight banks led by Prime Commercial Bank covered 65 percent of the construction costs.

Although the project is on the verge of completion, the project developer is worried due to delays in construction of the transmission line project by NEA, which is must to evacuate the electricity generated from the scheme to the national grid.

The power utility has yet to construct the 132kV Dordi Corridor Transmission Line for the evacuation of the electricity generated from the project, according to Dhakal.

“In absence of the power line, we have to pull a 3-km long electric cable to the nearby substation,” said Dhakal.