KATHMANDU, Feb 16: Construction of spurs along the Koshi River in Sunsari district may not be complete this year too, a senior government official said here on Monday.
Windstorm with rainfall likely today
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The Koshi River breached its embankment at West Kushaha on August 18 last year and flowed eastward through settlements in Sunsari district. The rampaging Koshi subsequently displaced thousands of people in Nepal and hundreds of thousands in Bihar state of India.
The flow of the Koshi River was diverted to its usual course toward the Koshi Barrage on January 26.
As per the Koshi Agreement, the entire responsibility for maintenance and operation of 32-kilometer embankment section and the barrage lies with India.
The entire attention of the Indian side, at present, is focused on the construction of the embankment and they have not yet started work to repair and restore the spurs, Assistant Spokesperson of the Ministry of Water Resources, Mathura Dangol, said at a press meet.
Koshi River had changed its course after sweeping away some of the spurs at West Kushaha. Spurs work as speed breakers and without these embankment alone cannot stop the swollen river. While some of the spurs were swept away by the river during the August flood many other are in dilapidated condition and need immediate repair.
The Indian side will complete the construction of embankment in about a month, he said.
"The Indian representatives said they can start construction of spurs only after they get permission from the Delhi-based Central Water Commission of India," Dangol said. "It shows that time for constructing spurs will not be sufficient this season as they have yet to start the work."
Work along the river is not possible once the monsoon starts.
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Nepal may import 60 MW of electricity in few days
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Dangol said the ongoing work of restoring electricity towers in Sunsari district would complete within the next three or four days.
Once the towers are restored, Nepal can import 60 MW of electricity from India. The electricity supply from India was disrupted after five towers were destroyed in by the Koshi floods in August.
Indian authorities are also simultaneously restoring the towers demolished in Bihar side.
"Indian representatives have told us that they can supply the power once the towers in Nepal are ready," he said.
Once Nepal resumes importing electricity from India, it will provide a noticeable relief to the power-strapped people here who have been seeing 96 hours per week of load-shedding.
The government in the last week of December last year declared national energy emergency.
