Panchthar, February 25

Construction of the Kabeli A Hydropower Project has halted for the past two months now. According to locals, work has come to a halt after Chechiyang Hydropower Construction and Installation Company, a Chinese company entrusted with the civil and hydro-mechanical work, pulled out its workers from the project.

Kabeli Energy Company Limited Chief Executive Officer Shersingh Bhat admitted that work at the project has stalled for a couple of months. “It’s true that the contractor has stopped work from the start of this year following our concerns about the quality of work,” said Bhat, who accused the contractor of unilaterally halting construction and further warned the contract with the company would be terminated if the contractor failed to come in contact soon.

Work on the 37.6MW power project based on the Kabeli River flowing between Taplejung and Panchthar, which was expected to be completed in four years had started about two years ago, and so far around 20 per cent of the work had finished.

The project is being developed by Kabeli Energy, a subsidiary of Butwal Power Company. The World Bank, International Financial Corporation and Singaporean Infra-Asia have also invested  in the project.

The estimated cost of the project stands somewhere at 102 million US dollars.