BHOJPUR: Two hydropower projects are taking shape in the eastern hilly district of Bhojpur. One project is already under-construction while the other is going to begin construction works.

With an investment of over one billion rupees, Taksar-Pikhuwa River Hydropower Pvt Ltd, with a capacity of eight megawatts, is about to begin construction works. The company is constructing the hydropower plant with an investment of Rs 1.5 billion, as informed by Founder Chairman Ambika Prasad Dhakal.

He further informed that the project is going to be constructed at Sitkel Behere of Bhojpur Municipality-12, and the hydropower project construction is targeted to be completed by April 2020.

Likewise, Pikhuwa River Hydropower Project — the under construction hydropower project — situated at Paluwa of Bhojpur Municipality-6 of the district has also picked up pace.

The under-construction project of five megawatt capacity, construction of which has been on-going with the investment of Eastern Hydropower Company, has picked its pace of construction works in the past one year.

The Eastern Hydropower Company had begun the construction of the Pikhuwa River Hydropower Project in BS 2066 after taking government approval for 2.5-megawatt capacity. The company, which had the intention of increasing the project capacity, had not been able to take the construction work forward for sometime. It has, however, picked up pace in the past one year after receiving permission to increase the capacity to five megawatts.

Project’s Chief Engineer Roshan Shah said that though the company and Nepal government has a power purchase agreement (PPA) valid till BS 2076, works are going on to complete the construction and start production by BS 2075. He further added that around 40 percent dam-related work is only remaining, and other works related to tunnel construction have already been completed.

The construction company has indicated that in total 70 percent works have been completed on the Pikhuwa River Hydropower Project and the construction is expected to be fully completed before the PPA deadline, with the support that has been received from the stakeholders, according to Dipen Rai of the project.

The project with an investment of 1.14 billion rupees is currently employing around 400 labourers from Nepal and India, who work at the project site.