KATHMANDU, JULY 15

The massive landslides and floods caused by the incessant rainfall have damaged physical infrastructure related to roads, bridges and hydropower projects worth around four billion so far in the ongoing monsoon.

According to the Department of Roads (DoR), floods and landslides have damaged 44 blacktopped roads projects across the country and around 300 gravel roads in the ongoing monsoon season. The damage amount is estimated at Rs 1.27 billion.

Keshav Kumar Sharma, director general of DoR, said that they have already mobilised the necessary manpower and equipment to repair the affected roads and various bridges.

The landslides have damaged various parts of Araniko Highway, Karnali Highway, BP Highway, Siddhartha Highway, Beni Jomsom Korala Road, Mahendra Highway, Siddhicharan Highway, Besisahar Chame Road, Kanti Lokpath and Mugling Narayan Road, among others. While 12 road sections of different highways are still blocked, others have been either partially or fully reopened.

Moreover, the nationwide torrential heavy rain and landslides have disrupted the power generation of almost 500 megawatts from different hydropower projects worth around Rs 2.73 billion.

According to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), some projects of the NEA and private sector failed to produce energy due to floods in the rivers across the country.

It said that NEA’s projects of 240-megawatt power and private sector’s projects generating 250 megawatts of hydropower were hit due to the monsoon flooding.

Prabal Adhikari, spokesperson for NEA, said the power production, transmission and supply system across the country were badly affected by the rain.

He added that NEA’s powerhouses were generating just 40 per cent of their capacity.

Adhikari said that the concerned teams of technicians have been deployed for the power supply management by repairing the powerhouses, and transmission lines of the disrupted projects.

As per him, country’s largest Kaligandaki ‘A’ Hydropower Project of 144 megawatts has been closed since Friday as the water level rose in the Kaligandaki River. However, the project officials were able to resume the power supply from Tuesday.

Similarly, powerhouses of 70 MW Mid-Marsyangdhi Project, 16 MW Trishuli and 14 MW Devighat of Trishuli are closed while some projects run by the private sector have also faced closure after the rain.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 16, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.