Pokhara, December 30

With the completion of the Upper Madi Hydro Project, an additional 25MW electricity has been added to the national power grid.

Power generation from the project based in Sildujure, Kaski was formally inaugurated by Energy Minister Janardan Sharma in a programme here today, 10 days after the project started generating power following a successful test of its machine and equipment earlier.

The project, built with an investment of Rs 7 billion of Madi Power Pvt Ltd, comprises two turbines with 12.5 MW capacity each. Water from the Madi River is harvested and channelled through a 4.2 km tunnel to the powerhouse to generate electricity.

The project was inaugurated by then prime minister Baburam Bhattarai about four years ago. Nepali investor Bijayababu Malla and a Chinese company China International Water and Electric Corporation have 20 and 80 per cent investment respectively in the project.

“It is the greatest achievement of my life. We’ve been able to start power production finally after four years,” said Malla, who is also the project director, ruing the delay caused by landslides, the 2015 earthquakes, and the border blockade.

“Though we had sought permission to produce electricity back in 2010, there were several factors that accounted for the delay,” Malla said, calling for a revision of the earlier Power Purchase Agreement in view of the increased cost of the project.

The project was built by Sino Hydro Company.

As per the PPA with the Nepal Electricity Authority, power produced from the project will be purchased at Rs 4 and Rs 7 in rainy and dry seasons respectively.