Chinese contractor Guangxi Hydro Electric Construction Bureau, which had won the contract nine months ago, has begun digging the tunnel for the 102 MW project. The company was awarded the contracts for both the civil and hydro mechanical works.

It has finished erecting an engineering camp and residential buildings at the project site and has now started work on the tunnel.

Chairman of the Madhya Bhotekoshi Power Company Hitendra Dev Shakya and the company’s directors had gone to the project site to observe the initiation of the tunnel’s construction.

According to the project, the main tunnel will be constructed after the completion of three audit tunnels which will be 240 metres long. The 7.12 km main tunnel will extend from the dam at Chaku to the powerhouse at Gati.

The acquisition of land and distribution of compensation has already been completed while 70 percent of the audit road construction has been finished. However, work on the tunnel, powerhouse and dam has fallen behind schedule due to political intervention and internal problems at the Chilime Hydropower Project, which is the main developer of the project.

“From next week, the construction of another audit tunnel will start,” said Chairman Shakya. “We have been making all efforts to ensure that work is carried out at full speed.”

On Thursday, the project’s board officials, consultant and contractor had held a discussion on taking the project ahead. Project officials had assured the contractor that they would actively help it deal with local-level problems. “We have told the contractor that the board is ready to play any role to help it perform its duties and also urged it to speed things up,” said Shakya.

A senior official of the Guangxi Hydro Electric Construction Bureau had also reached the project site on Thursday. The contractor has informed project officials that they will expedite the construction.

Work on the project was supposed to start in 2013 and be completed by 2014, but it began a year late. The delay is expected to result in a cost overrun of Rs 1 billion, said project officials. Currently, the project’s estimated cost is Rs 14 billion.