Inaugurating the national pride project on Thursday, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said the project would make significant contribution in economic development of the country. "The project will make optimum utilization of our water resources. We need to prioritize such projects," he added.Upon completion, the multipurpose project will provide irrigation facilities in Banke and Bardiya districts and generate 48 MW of electricity. "The project will generate electricity as per the installed capacity throughout the year," Project Chief Shiva Kumar Basnet told Republica.
According to Basnet, water of Bheri will be diverted to Babai from Maintanda VDC through a 12-kilometer tunnel. The tunnel will be constructed by using Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) which is expected to make tunnel digging work easy.
"This is the first project in Nepal where TBM is being used. With the use of this modern machine, we hope the project will be completed in time," added Basnet.
The project will divert 40 cubic meters per second of water from Bheri River to Babai River. The flow is eight times more than the current water flow of in Babai River.
According to project officials, three major structures of the project -- head box, tunnel and power station -- will be in Surkhet.
Local stakeholders say the project will benefit local people. Jaya Bahadur Sunuwar, president of BBDM Stakeholders Committee, said local people will be directly benefited by the opportunities created by the project.
Speaking on the occasion, Constituent Assembly member Purna Bahadur Khadka said the government should address logical demands of locals of affected areas without any hesitation.
The multipurpose project, which is estimated to cost, Rs 4 billion is expected to affect around two dozen VDCs.
Emphasizing that such projects are key to economic development, Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam urged locals to cooperate for smooth implementation of the project.
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