Lawmakers, political parties and civil society members on Wednesday issued an appeal for an end to the strike at the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project that has brought construction work to a standstill.

The 456 MW project has lain paralysed for the last five days after construction workers resorted to stoppage to press their demand for shares in the project. Meanwhile, locals have joined the protest movement asking for a higher stake. Project spokesperson Ganesh Neupane said workers had obstructed vehicles headed for the project site at Singati in Dolkha district. “There has been no progress even though the protest has continued for five days.”

Lawmakers have requested the concerned authorities to make efforts to protect the project from the disruptive activities. Similarly, political parties stated that obstructing construction work under any pretext would seriously affect the project.

The district civil society said that the protest had made things more difficult for the project which was already running late. The Rs35.29 billion hydropower project had been projected to be completed within two years from the beginning of construction.

Lawmakers from Dolkha district Pashupati Chaulagain, Anand Prasad Pokharel and Parbat Gurung said the construction work should be continued even by deferring the share allotment process. According to them, the necessary legal framework should be created to ensure that locals get more shares as per their

demand besides reducing the interest burden on the capital investment.

Similarly, political party representatives have urged the workers and locals of Singati not to disrupt the construction work. Tara Bahadur Koirala, chairman of the district unit of the Nepali Congress, said the demand of locals and project employees should be fulfilled. “However, the project should not be made to suffer by holding protests.”

Ishwor Chandra Pokharel, district chairman of CPN-UML, said the state and the project authority should work immediately to resolve the problem.

Likewise, Ganga Karki, district coordinator of UCPN (Maoist), said that none of the development projects including Upper Tamakoshi should be obstructed. He blamed the project’s managerial inefficiency for the failure to address the workers’ demand for so many days.

The political parties have also blamed the government’s apathy towards the ongoing mess at the project.

Dolkha’s Chief District Officer Premlal Lamichhane said the authorities would take the necessary steps to complete the construction of the national pride project.

Meanwhile, locals of Singati said that the political parties that backed the proposal for additional shares should work to implement it.

Padam Pathak, a local from Singati, said that they had been staging the protest to ensure the implementation of the proposal that was approved by the political parties.

Completion to be delayed by year

KATHMANDU: Officials of the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project said that the construction work would likely fall behind by a year. “The protest and the upcoming rainy season could push back the completion date by one year,” said an expert at the project. The project will be able to start producing power only after three years due to the delay.

Published on: 19 March 2015 | The Kathmandu Post