Nepal Infrastructure 
KATHMANDU: The Department of Electricity Development (DoED) is calling for a tender for the second time for the civil and hydromechanical part of Lot 1 of the 20-MW Budhiganga semi-reservoir hydropower project in Sudurpaschim Province. The second bid is to be announced after no aspirant firms met the required qualification in the first call. DoED officials said the construction will start once the selection of qualified bidders is completed.
The department has also informed that a consultant has been selected to supervise the construction work of the project which is in the contract stage. The goal of this project is to complete its construction and generate electricity within the year 2025. Total 250 ropani lands required for the project’s dam, powerhouse, campsite, substation, and office building, and 20 acres for reservoir have also been acquired. The construction work of the office building and residence and the necessary camp at the project site have been completed. The department said that the necessary access road and bridge construction work to reach the place where all the structures of the project will be located is being completed. The department plans to acquire the land required for the Transmission Line (TL) of the project in the next financial year.
The preliminary environmental study of the TL alignment has been completed. After the construction of the project is completed, the generated electricity will be brought and connected to the Pahalmanpur substation in Kailali, 81.70 km away from the power plant. This project will produce 109.07-gigawatt hours of electricity annually when it is completed and operational. Two Francis turbines of 10 MW capacity will be installed in the power plant. The 132 KV TL up to the Pahalmanpur substation will be constructed by the project itself. The cost of completing the project is estimated at Rs10.33 rupees. An agreement was signed in 2012 between the government and the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development for the construction of the Budhiganga hydropower project. An agreement has been reached between the government and the Saudi Development Fund in 2014 for Saudi Arabia’s investment in the project.
