Breakthrough made in main tunnel of Rahughat hydel project

By Our Correspondent,Myagdi, July 31: The main tunnel – 6.27 km – of the Rahughat Hydroelectricity Project has seen a 'breakthrough'. 

The 40 MW project is promoted by the Nepal Electricity Authority's subsidiary company Raghuganga Hydropower and is under construction in Raghuganga Rural Municipality of Myagdi district. 

Breakthrough of the main tunnel of the project is made with the completion of the 2.33 km tunnel connecting the second audit in Ward No. 3 Andherikhola from the dam at the foot of Raghuganga-4, Dagnam, Project Manager Raj Bista informed.

Chairman of Raghuganga Rural Municipality, Bhawa Bahadur Bhandari, and Managing Director of Raghuganga HEP, Ganesh KC, pressed the switch and detonated explosives to make the breakthrough in the main tunnel on Tuesday.

KC said that with the completion of the project's main tunnel, other construction works are also expected to accelerate.

Construction of the project's tunnel, power house as well as supply and connection of hydromechanics and electromechanical equipment are underway.

According to the project, a 1.04 km long 'Pressure Shaft' tunnel, which will hold a pipeline to drop water to the under-construction power plant in Tilkenichaur, from the outlet of the main tunnel located in Raghuganga-3, Pipley was connected last May.

A pressure shaft has been built to hold the pipeline that will take the water coming from the main tunnel to the power plant. A 61-metre deep 'search shaft' has been constructed in Pipley.

In December 2017, an agreement was signed with Jaya Prakash Associates, the civil contractor for the project. The project is being built with joint investment of the NEA and the Government of Nepal and concessional loan of US$ 67 million from the Exim Bank of India. 

The equipment manufactured in India by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), the electrical contractor who signed the contract in November 2019, has been tested and the import process has been started. 

The project has achieved 25 per cent progress in electromechanical works while 56 per cent physical progress has been made in the construction of the dam.

A 17-metre high and 31-meter-long semi-reservoir technology dam and a power plant are being constructed on the border of Ward No. 4, Dagnam and Ward No. 5, Jhinko of Raghuganga. 

The project is expected to complete in October this year.