KATHMANDU: Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS), Government of Nepal, has established a separate cell for Koshi River Basin Management (KRBM) project with the support of WWF. Gautam Rajkarnikar, project officer, said the cell was established for the first field piloting of National Water Plan 2005 in Koshi river basin, which prioritises the conservation and management of water, land and related resources in an integrated approach. “It would deal with all the projects related to Koshi basin and is in the process of preparing a Basin Plan to provide strategic guidance to the programme,” he said. WECS formally launched the project in February to make optimum use of Koshi basin’s water and related resources to promote socio-economic development for the benefit of people in the basin along with maintaining the ecological balance. Currently, the pilot field activities are being initiated in the Dudh Koshi Sub-basin, one of the seven sub-basins of Koshi River Basin within Nepal. Integrated Resource Management Committees (IRMC) have been formed for the coordination of project at community level. The Koshi basin has an enormous potential for development of water resources. According to a study conducted by WECS in 1999, about 4,830 million cubic meter water is available annually in the Koshi basin, out of which only about 14 per cent is being utilised. The Koshi Basin Master Plan had estimated the possibility of generating 29,898 MW of hydroelectricity and irrigation of 474,800 hectares of land from its water resources which can improve the socio-economic condition of the region in particular and Nepal in general.