Kathmandu, March 1:

Every household in Rukum district is unlikely to be electrified in a year.

The government’s ‘Rukum Ujyalo Programme’ aims at lighting up all 37,000 households within a year in the district where only 7 per cent of the district population has access to the electricity.

It is one of the 58 ambitious programmes of the government to build new

Nepal. Bharat Raj Paudel, monitoring officer at Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC), said that it would not be possible to accomplish such a large project within a year.

“We have to follow bureaucratic process while hiring consultants and procurement,” Paudel added.

Chief implementing agency AEPC has completed Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS) of 97 micro and mini hydro projects that will generate more than 2,500 KW of electricity and 20,000 families will take advantage of it.

Poudel said that a 13-member technical team including four engineers,

six overseers and a biomass energy coordinator was already employed in the district to provide necessary technical supports.

To achieve the target, AEPC will allocate Rs 500 million as subsidy and local bodies will contribute Rs 250 million and same amount will be provided by locals through labour contribution.

CA member Bimala KC also said that it would take one more year to complete the project. “Though we are speeding up the work, one year is not enough because of the government’s budget presentation in late time.”