By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Nov. 19: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said on Monday that the government was striving towards developing the nation on the foundation of a strong economy.
Inaugurating the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project from the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers in Singha Durbar by switching a button, Prime Minister Oli said that the power generated from the project would help in modernising the agricultural sector and in smooth operation of industries.
The state should focus on slashing the import by encouraging the export for poverty alleviation in the country, Prime Minister Oli said.
Operation of the hydropower project will help reduce the import of power from the neigbhouring country, Prime Minister Oli said.
“Many of the hydro projects like the Upper Trishuli which are in the final stage of construction will be helpful in preparing a strong economic foundation of the nation,” PM Oli said.
The government has given high priority to the completion of such project which can be supportive to meet the target of the government’s national goal for ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali,’ Prime Oli said.
The government has intensified infrastructure development works to ensure social justice, good governance and deliver easy service to public, he said.
Development of infrastructures and timely completion of projects help accelerate the nation to a middle-income category country, he said.
“Construction of development projects and their costs have increased when we tend to seek unnecessary benefit and compensation from such projects,” Prime Minister Oli said.
A trend to show the least evaluation of their income to pay tax and seeking high compensation when any development projects are in the offing has flourished, he said.
“We should discard such practices which remain as hurdles to the development plans of the government,” Prime Minister Oli said.
He said that the government was paying attention to build environment-friendly and risk-free development infrastructure.
After switching the button to inaugurate the hydropower project from Singha Durbar, the Prime Minister thanked all the employees who made all their efforts to complete the project successfully.
Meanwhile, RSS adds, that the Upper Trishuli 3 'A' Hydroelectricity Project, located in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, has come online after a decade, after its formal inauguration today.
Two separate units of the Project – First and Second- each with the capacity of generating 30 megawatts power, have come online. Test production from the units had started on June 17 and July 2 respectively.
The Project has started commercial production after its formal inauguration. It has taken more than a decade to come to this stage. The project was delayed sometimes due to dispute over increasing its generating capacity from 60 megawatts to 90 megawatts while at other times due to lack of agreement whether to construct the powerhouse underground or above-ground.
The estimated cost of the project was Rs. 14.43 billion (excluding the interest during the construction period). The project latest cost has reached Rs. 17.32 billion, including Rs 2.89 billion interest during the construction period.
It is constructed with the investment of the Government of Nepal and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) along with the concessional loan from the Chinese government.
The Exim Bank of China provided a concessional loan of 125.8 million US dollars for the construction of the project built on the 'engineering, purchase and construction (EPC)' model.
The project will run in full capacity for nine months of the year while generating 45 megawatts power during the winter, which is believed to further help keep the country's electricity supply system balanced and reliable.
It will meet about 7 percent of the country's energy consumption. This will support to conserving the water of the Kulekhani reservoir and decreasing the amount of electricity import.
Under the 'Project Support Programme', the project has built eight school buildings, blacktopped and upgraded 11-kilometres road, implemented water supply system, upgraded the road leading to Trishuli Hospital, provided equipments to the hospital, constructed playgrounds and provided irrigation facilities in Rasuwa and Nuwakot where the project's major structures are located and in Dhading and Kathmandu districts where the transmission line of the project passes through.
The project has spent nearly Rs, 400 million for this purpose, it is stated.