The construction cost of the second largest Madhya Marsyandi hydropower power project in Nepal will double than estimated in a 3-year delay of work accomplishment, local Samacharpatra daily reported in Kathmandu on Sunday.

The construction work will finish by 2007 and additional 13 billion Nepali rupees (185 million U.S. dollars) will be spent in addition to the estimated project cost of 13.65 billion Nepali rupees (195 million dollars), the vernacular daily quoted Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) officials, as saying.

Initially, the 72-megawatt project, being constructed in Udipur area of Lamjung district, some 150 km northwest of Kathmandu, was scheduled to complete by 2004.

On the other hand, it is not sure whether the transmission line would be installed timely. The NEA officials said that the work on transmission line might complete only after 3-4 months of project completion. That means thousands units of generated electricity will go into vain.

"Otherwise, we need to spend additional heavy amount to complete installation of transmission line by December 2007," the official said.

Given this background, a parliamentary team along with minister for water resources Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, recently visited the project site.

Minister Karki stressed on the need for quick work accomplishment to solve the problem of increasing power shortage in the country.

Source: Xinhua