MYAGDI, March 8: Nepal Electricity Authority's subsidiary, Raghu Ganga Hydropower, is constructing the 40 MW Rahughat Hydropower Project, whose dam faces the risk of landslides.
The nearly completed dam, designed to divert water from the Rahughat River into a tunnel, faces a landslide threat. The river flows from the foothills of the Dhaulagiri Himal through the base of Dagnam in Raghu Ganga Rural Municipality-4 and Jhi in Ward-5.
A newly formed landslide above Dagnam village now looms directly over the Rahughat Hydropower Project's dam. Last monsoon, debris from the same landslide piled up on the under-construction dam, causing damage. The landslide has heightened risks for both Dagnam village and the dam below.
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Project Chief Raj Bahadur Bista said the team has started studying ways to control the landslide. "We are assessing the potential damage the landslide could cause above the dam and planning preventive measures," he said. "We are waiting for the technical team's study report and recommendations."
Engineers are constructing a 17-meter-high and 31-meter-long semi-reservoir (PROR) technology-based dam, along with a desander (settling pond) on the right bank of the Rahughat River. A landslide has formed about 300 meters directly above the dam, desander, and inlet (tunnel entry point).
The project has achieved 82 percent physical progress so far. Civil contractor Jayaprakash Associates has nearly completed the construction of the dam, tunnel, and powerhouse. Rabin Kattel, head of the project's civil division, stated that the team is accelerating construction to meet the completion target by mid-June 2025.
He said, "We have completed the construction of the barrage on the dam, the 6,270-meter-long main tunnel, surge shaft, vertical and third pressure shafts, and tailrace duct. Work is ongoing to finish the desander (settling pond), power intake, main tunnel, and to install the penstock pipeline."
The team is carrying out lining (concreting and plastering) through the four audit tunnels of the main tunnel. The construction of the powerhouse in Tilkenichaur, Raghu Ganga-3, is 90 percent complete. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), the electro-mechanical contractor, is installing turbines and generator equipment at the powerhouse.
The team has started constructing the AIS (Air Insulated) switchyard at the powerhouse complex. The switchyard equipment will receive the energy generated by the powerhouse's generator and supply it to the transmission line. They have completed the 128-meter-long tailrace, which will channel water from the powerhouse into the Kali Gandaki River.
The team will connect the electricity produced at Rahughat to the central grid through the 220 kV Kali Gandaki Corridor Dana-Kushma transmission line (double circuit) using the Loop-in, Loop-out (LILO) technique. They have already constructed four towers for the transmission line.
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