DHADING, July 17: The flood caused by incessant rains entered the under-construction Huaxin Narayani Cement factory, incurring losses worth millions. The factory site is located at Talti of Benighat Rorang-2 in Dhading district.
The flood entered the factory and swept away an excavator, two cars, and two tippers when the Malekhu River rose after the incessant rainfall on Sunday. Most of the machinery used in the construction site has been swept away by the flood.
Two days of continuous rains had caused the river to swell. The workers on night shift were in the construction site until 1pm, Monday. After the water level stated rising, they were instructed to evacuate to a safer place. Laborers and technical staff were shifted to Pipal Bhanjyang School from the river bank.
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The flood has caused damage to the main store house of the factory. The construction site and the structures of the production unit are inundated. The workers seemed troubled as the river took away their workplace.
Dilli Pokharel, a representative of the factory, said that though there has been no human casualty, dorms, where the workers stayed have been damaged. “The midnight flood has fully damaged staff quarters and the factory's under construction structures,” he said, “Though the exact valuation of loss has not been made, we estimate that it is worth at least Rs 10 million.”
Five laborers of the factory were rescued by the staff, police, and locals of Talti on Monday. They spent the night holding on to an iron pole as rescue was difficult due to no electricity at night. A staffer said that they used generator during night but the flood had drowned it and could not be used. "250 Chinese and 300 Nepali workers could not get their belongings out from the site," he said.
Meanwhile, the bus in which students of Kathmandu Engineering College had come for field visit of the factory has been swept away too. The construction site is on the river bank that used to be a paddy field 26 years ago when a flood had swept away the field.
The Nepali-Chinese joint venture factory was initiated four months ago with an investment of Rs 15 billion.
A total of 620 workers were involved in the construction work located 11 kilometers from Malekhu, Prithivi Highway. The company has set a target to complete the construction work of the factory within nine months. The factory is expected to produce 60,000 sacks of cement daily.
The company consists of 80% investment from the Chinese and 20% from the Nepali investors.
