Commercial electricity production of Madhya Bhotekoshi from mid-September

By Chitra Kumar Mijar,Sindhupalchowk, Sept. 6: The 102-MW Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project, the largest power plant in Sindhupalchowk so far, is going to produce electricity commercially from mid-September.

It has started producing electricity on a trial basis since September 1, 2025.

Ram Gopal Siwakoti, the chief executive Officer of the project, said that it was going to produce electricity commercially after the team of Nepal Electricity Authority inspected and gave permission. 

He added that the project was expected to produce electricity commercially from mid-September this year. As the Barhabise substation, being built by the Nepal Electricity Authority, is not completed, the electricity generated by the project has been supplied to the new Khimti substation through a 40-kilometre transmission line. 

The electricity will be connected from Khimti via Dhalkebar to the national transmission grid.  One of the three turbines of the project is being operated and electricity is being produced on a trial basis, according to Siwakoti. 

He said that around 542 million units of electricity would be generated annually, and an income of Rs. 2.75 billion would be generated from it. 

The project, after remaining in the making for 14 years, has finally started generating electricity.  Due to the delay in the construction, its cost increased by 78 per cent. Initially estimated at Rs. 12.33 billion, the cost of the project Rs. 22 billion due to the delay. It is currently paying Rs. 2.5 million in daily interest on the loan. 

Factors such as extreme political interference, obstacles from local stakeholders, internal administrative problems, the COVID-19 pandemic, floods, landslides, earthquakes, and obstacles on the Indian border, among others, are to blame for the delay, said Siwakoti. 

The construction of the Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project, with Chilime Hydropower Project, a subsidiary of the Nepal Electricity Authority, as the main promoter, began in 2012.

The project, which has a dam at Chakuma in Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality-5 and a powerhouse at Jambu in Barhabise Municipality, has constructed a 7.5-kilometre tunnel. 

The tunnel was constructed by the Chinese company Guangxi Hydroelectric Construction Bureau. The tunnel has been repaired three times after water leaked from it.