Bajura, February 3

If everything goes as planned, the residents of remote village of Bichhyan in Himali Rural Municipality of Bajura will be able to light up their homes with electricity within little more than one year from now.

As per sources, a 100kw power plant on the local Biddhyankhola is being developed under the Rural Village Water Resources Management Project.

While locals will be contributing 15 per cent cash and labour worth 20 per cent of the estimated cost of Rs 60 million, the rest of the fund will be provided by the Government of Finland and European Union.

We’ve started work on the project with a view to completing electrification within 14 months,” said Himali RM Chair Govind Bahadur Malla, adding that the project will be developed through Bichhyankhola Hydropower Multi-purpose Cooperatives.

Meanwhile, the rollout of the project has brought cheers on the faces of locals here who are eagerly looking forward to the day when they will be able to illuminate their homes.

While locals are happily donating labour to the project, so far the project has collected Rs 790,000 from them. The collected amount is said to be the share capital of the locals in the project.

The project is estimated to benefit over 500 families in Himali RM wards 1, 2 and 3.