Pokhara, August 7

Gadaki Province Chief Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung has asked Nepal Communist Party (NCP) General Secretary Bishnu Poudel to stop pushing the Kaligandaki Diversion Project.

“Let alone the CPN general secretary, even god in person cannot convince me to consent to the proposed project, which envisions diverting the water from the Kaligandaki River to the Tinau River,” he told journalists here today, a day after Poudel while talking about the project in Butwal, had said that it was up to him to win over the chief minister.

“What will happen if the project is not implemented? It’s won’t be the end of the world. We can still produce enough electricity and manage water for irrigation by other ways,” he reasoned, adding, however, there hadn’t been any discussion between him and Poudel over the river linking project.

The diversion project was floated by Poudel in the capacity of finance minister in the past.

The multi-purpose project envisions irrigating over 100,000 hectare land in Rupandehi and Kapilvastu and producing 424MW electricity by transferring the water of the Kaligandaki River to the Tinau River through a tunnel. The expected cost of the project stands somewhere around 40 billion rupees.

So far, the project’s detailed field report has been prepared. As per the report with the Energy Ministry, work related to the geological study is under way now. Though the government in the past had started the project three years ago, its work is yet to gain momentum.

The project has received special priority in the government plans and policies for the present fiscal.