Kathmandu, July 8
The Board of Directors of the Pancheshwor Development
Authority (PDA) have decided to finalise the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of
the Pancheshwor Multipurpose Project (PMP) within three months from now.
To facilitate in the speedy completion of DPR, the meeting
of the governing body of the project held in Pokhara of Nepal on Thursday and
Friday decided to extend the tenure of the team of experts/officials formed by
both governments of Nepal and India by six months.
The extension of the tenure of the expert teams is made so
that they could help in finalising the DPR and implementing it.
Likewise, the fourth meeting of the team of experts would be
held within 10 days from July 8, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and
Irrigation (MoEWRI), informed in a statement the other day.
The meeting was jointly chaired by Secretary of the MoEWRI
of Nepal, Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, and Secretary of the Ministry of Jal Shakti of
India, Paknaj Kumar. Both the secretaries are the co-chair of the board of
directors at the PDA.
According to the MoEWRI, the meeting had made these
decisions to materialise the agreement between the two countries during the
recent visit of Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda to India.
PM Prachanda and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, had agreed to complete
the DPR within a three-month period.
Conceptualised in 1960s, the bi-national PMP has been in
talks since 1990s but there has been less progress at the project. The project
will have a high dam in the Mahakali River as well as two re-regulating dams at
the Rupali Gad and Purnagiri. Total installed electricity capacity of the high
dam project will be of 6480 MW.
The PDA was formed in 2015.
According to the project, Development of PMP, is a mutual
interest project between two countries, and is covered under integrated
Mahakali Treaty signed between Nepal and India according to which, equal sizes
of underground power house i.e. of 3240MV will be constructed on each side of
Mahakali river in India and Nepal.
Moreover, the PMP also offers benefit of regulated water for
irrigation to a vast area of agricultural land both in Nepal and India along
with benefit of flood control downstream.
The project is located in Sudurpaschim Province covering
parts of Darchula, Baitadi and Dadeldhura districts.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 9 July 2023.
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