The hydropower projects under construction in the district have been put on a rush schedule to make up for the time lost during the earthquake. The construction work had to be suspended due to the tremor and aftershocks raising concerns that they might not be finished on time.  

Five hydropower projects are currently under construction in the district. They

have a combined capacity of 107 MW. The Upper Marsyangdi A Hydropower is reported to have completed 85 percent of the construction work. According to Sino Hydro-Sagarmatha Power Company, the project will be completed by December.

“Citing possible delays due to the April 25 earthquake, the company has decided to

postpone the project’s completion date,” said an official of Sino Hydro.

Arjun Gurung, information officer at the hydro project, said they had speeded up the construction work with the aim of completing it by the end of 2015. “We have aimed to meet the deadline.”

Gurung added that they had already relieved 150 Nepali and 80 Chinese workers as they were approaching the final phase of the project and wanted to trim their workforce. The project had initially hired 1,800 workers including 200 Chinese.  

Similarly, the promoters of the three hydropower projects being constructed at Dordi Khola and adjoining areas said that they had speeded up the pace of work. Liberty Energy Hydropower is constructing the 25 MW Upper Dordi A Project, Himalayan Power Partner in involved in the 27 MW Dordi Khola Hydropower Project and Chhyangdi Khola Hydropower is building the 2 MW Chhyangdi Hydropower Project. All these projects have reported that they have completed 85 percent of the construction work.

Rajendra Wasti, promoter of Upper Dordi A, said that they had accelerated the infrastructure construction of the project. “Due to the impact of the earthquake on the local people, we were compelled to stop the blasting work for almost one and a half months,” said Wasti, adding that they had targeted going into production by mid-April 2018.  

Guru Prasad Dhakal, director of the Dordi Khola Hydropower Project, said they had to stop the construction of the tunnel following the quake. “Currently, we are engaged in constructing the connecting road and bridges along with the tunnel.”

Likewise, Chhyangdi Khola Hydropower claimed that they had almost reached the last stage of the project’s construction. Lal Bahadur Thapa, executive director of the project, said they had targeted starting production in mid-September. According to him, they have already constructed a transmission line at a cost of Rs20 million to feed the electricity produced to the Nepal Electricity Authority’s sub-station in Udipur, Lamjung. Meanwhile, Union Hydropower, the promoter of the Midim Khola-Karapu Hydropower Project, said it had been engaged in constructing the tunnel for the last four months.

“Due to the setbacks caused to the construction work by the earthquake and the rainy season, the project’s completion date could be delayed by two to three months,” said Rajendra Adhikari, information officer of the project. The 3 MW project had been slated to be completed in 18 months from the start of construction.