Sunday, February 24, 2013

Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project:Half of tunnel work completed


DOLAKHA, FEB 24 -
In an encouraging progress, 50 percent of the tunnel construction work on the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project has (UTHP) has been completed on time.

Normally, tunnel construction is considered as the most difficult work on hydropower projects.

Of the 16km tunnel to be built, construction of the 8km section was completed on Friday, indicating that the 456MW project developed under domestic investment is on track for timely completion.

“If the momentum continues and things go as planned, we see the project complete by mid-April 2016,” said Bigyan Prasad Sharma, acting project chief.

In a bid to speed-up construction work, the workforce deployed at site offices, including in Charikot, were transferred to the main site in Lamabagar VDC, Dolkha, 10 months ago. Adoption of provisions like the “digital daily entry system” and punishment and reward to workers also contributed to the timely completion of the tunnel work, the project said.

Project officials said the project work, which was earlier estimated to get delayed by around one and half years, made a significant progress due to “effective management practice”. After the project implemented the allowance and electronic attendance systems, around 75 percent of the workers and almost all of the staff members of the Chinese contractor Sino Hydro started to report to work in time.

“Before the implementation of the systems, it was difficult to know who is working where,” said a project employee. “There were chances of cheating from dishonest employees.”

Site Engineer Bimal Gurung said efficiency of 80 percent of the workers has increased. “We have been able to complete construction of 8,002m section of the 15,960m tunnel,” he said.

Tamakoshi hydropower project is the country’s biggest under-construction project and its capacity is two-third of the total energy presently being generated in the country. The run-of-the-river type project will run daily for four hours in full capacity even during the dry season. “It will play a big role in solving the power shortage problem,” said Gurung.

According to the project, 48 percent of the civil construction work and 41 percent of the total construction work has so far been completed. Sino Hydro holds the contract for civil construction and employs 400 Chinese and 1,200 Nepali workers. Project chief Shrestha said they aim to complete 50 percent of the total work by end of this fiscal year. To achieve the target, the project is mulling continuing the work even during public holidays, including Dashain and Tihar holidays.

Progress on tunnel work

Section    Total length    Progrss

Main tunnel     7,846m    2,569m

Tailrace tunnel    2,986m    1,349m

Audit tunnels    1,475m    1,475m

Tunnels inside powerhouse    3,003m    2,609m

Other small tunnels     650m    not started

Total    15,960m    8,002m

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