By Lalit Basel
Surkhet, June 4: Bheri-Babai Multipurpose Project has claimed that the construction work will complete within the given deadline.
Although the first phase of tunnel construction was completed a year ago, the second phase work to create other structure is moving at a slower pace. According to the earlier set deadline, the project should be completed by the end of the fiscal year 2022/23. The project has said that despite the threats posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, construction work has been expedited in order to complete the project in time, said Information Officer of the project Ishwori Prasad Tiwari.
He claimed that since the major and complex civil works were completed, the project could be given a final touch within the stipulated time. "Most complex work of tunnel construction has completed and the work is expedited to meet the deadline. It will facilitate the project to complete in two years," he said. However, the Rs. 33.19 billion project has achieved just 45 per cent physical progress so far.
While the tunnel construction work was completed a year before than the stipulated time, the second phase development, construction of the structures like power house and head works, is rather slow with just 25 per cent progress so far, said the project.
Progress at the power house construction is slow. Likewise, the head works will be created with 114 metre long and 14 m high bridge and six exit doors. A Chinese and a Nepali company are constructing these two facilities.
Meanwhile, the national pride project is facing a shortage of workers and steel bars due to the restrictions imposed with the increased cases of COVID-19 cases. Currently, only half of the 300 workers were engaged in construction before the pandemic and only 60 of them are at the site. Tiwari said that local workers were afraid of resuming work due to the fear of the pandemic.
Water of the Bheri will be taken to Hattikhal Babai in Bheri Ganga Municipality-1 from Chiple of Bheri Ganga - 9 through a 14 km long tunnel. The project will generate 48 Megawatt electricity and irrigate 52,000 hectare of land in Banke and Bardiya districts. The government has allocated Rs. 3.2 billion for the project in the next fiscal year.