NEPALGUNG: The first phase construction if the Sikta Irrigation Project at Agaiya in Banke district is 90 per cent complete.

The government has allocated a budget of Rs 1.85 billion for the first phase of the project. The government sanctioned Rs 600 million extra budget for the project this year.

Although it is stated in the project agreement that the Sino Hydro Company of China, which is responsible for construction of the first phase of the project, would complete the project by 2009, the progress of work indicates that it will be completed well before the designated date. The construction of a 15-km long irrigation canal will start after the completion of the construction of the irrigation dam.

The entire construction of the project is set to complete in 2012 in different stages. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 12 billion. Construction of the project that was started 27 years back was in limbo.

The government itself stepped in and decided to invest in the project after no donor agency agreed to invest in the project.