Interaction on Nagmati dam project held

By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Jan 23: Mitrakunj, an organization of Nepali experts who studied in Soviet Russia and CIS countries, held an interaction on Nagmati dam project recently.

The interaction held at the Russian House at Kamalpokhari dwelt on relevance, appropriateness and impact of the dam project which is being implemented under the Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project.

Principal presenter in the interaction, senior engineer and water resource expert Ravi Prasad Rajbhandari remarked that the dam could be a time bomb or a sword at the neck as the dam was being built 'just above the nose' of the highly populated Kathmandu valley which is highly risky in seismological point of view.

The dam with 95 meter height is expected to add 450 liter of water into the Bagmati River once completed. "But, there will be little additional water due to vaporization and leakage when the water arrives in the Pashupati area," he said.

He also remarked that the estimate cost of the dam, Rs. 25 billion, was also too high.

He urged all to learn from the failure of the Dhap dam which was constructed just above the proposed site of the Nagmati dam and recent burst of dams in different countries.

Alternative ways should be sought instead of constructing the high dam for adding water volume in the Bagmati, said Rajbhandari.

Key commentator in the interaction, Prof. Dr. Hari Pandit, viewed that efforts to reduce pollution in the Bagmati were positive. "But this dam is not appropriate."

Stop pouring sewerage into the Bagmati, it will be clean, he pointed out.

He said that project had many technical errors and that it was not appropriate from social, environmental as well as financial perspectives. "Once we have water from the Larke, Yangri and Melamchi in Kathmandu, we can add some water to the Bagmati", he viewed.  

Senior engineer and former deputy managing director of the NEA, Mohan Ratna Shakya, senior engineers Prakash Upadhyaya, Bhola Chhatakuli, Rajendra Sharma, expert of hydropower development and flood management Prof. Dr. Govinda Pokharel also put forth their views in the programme held on 19 January.