January 18: Most of the projects prioritized by the government as the ‘projects of national pride’ except a few are found not to be making meaningful progress, according to a news report published by Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS).

According to RSS, the status of the performance of rest of the projects except the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project is not satisfactory. The government has listed 21 projects as the ‘national pride projects’.

A report prepared by the National Planning Commission (NPC) shows that the West Seti Hydro- electricity Project has not made any progress till now. The progress of this project remains almost nil since 21 years.

A Chinese company named Three Gorges which was said to promote this project has returned citing differences on some technical issues.

The government had formed a taskforce comprising of Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barsha Man Pun, Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada and Chief Executive Officer of the Investment Board Nepal, Maha Prasad Adhikari, regarding how to proceed ahead with the project. The taskforce has not prepared any report till date.

Talking to RSS, the board’s CEO Adhikari said that the report is in the final stages of preparation and it would be presented in the board meeting in a few days. The report is being prepared under the coordination of Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Dinesh Kumar Ghimire.

Similarly, the overall progress of another national pride project – Budhigandaki Hydroelectricity Project – is 9.9 per cent. This project is much talked about since the last five years. According to RSS, the task of distributing compensation for the land acquired for the project is in progress. However, the compensation for the land at Arughat Bazar of Gorkha and Khahare Bazar of Dhading district has not been determined as yet.

Similarly, around 97 per cent works of another national pride project, Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project, has been completed but its remaining work has not taken any momentum after the hydro mechanical contractor could not carry out stipulated works of the project.

The 456-MW project has made preparation to produce electricity commercially by coming mid-November.

Likewise, there is also problem in Sikta Irrigation Project. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has filed case against the project after contractors, consultants and technical staff of the project were not found fulfilling their responsibilities. The overall progress of the project, which is under construction for the past 12 years, is around 56 per cent.