July 27: The Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) has pledged to invest Rs 12 billion for the development of Tamakoshi 'V' Hydropower Project.    
This will be the EFP's lone investment in the hydropower project after Rasuwagadhi, Upper Sanzen, Sanzen and Bhotekoshi projects, according to the state-owned national news agency RSS.    
A tripartite agreement on investment was reached on Sunday (July 25) in the presence of Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal.    
Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Hitendra Dev Shakya, EPF's Administrator Tulasi Prasad Gautam and Chief Executive Officer of Tamakoshi Hydropower Project Nasib Man Pradhan agreed on a deal for the development of the 100-megawatt project. It will be a cascade project of the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project. 

 Pradhan informed New Business Age that water coming from the tailrace after being used by the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project will flow through the tunnel from Lamabagar.

Administrator Gautam said that the EPF was ready to make the investment adding that it was a very lucrative project.    
The estimated cost of the project is around Rs 16 billion, up from the initial projection of Rs 13 billion, and the NEA will invest Rs 4 billon for the project development.    
Officials claimed that Rs 160 million will be spent for the production of each megawatt power adding that the access route for the project is already readied while developing the Upper Tamakoshi Project.    
Administrator Gautam told RSS that the EPF decided to invest in this project as the transmission line was already prepared and the project was also cost-effective. He added that the project was selected as it was considered the best by various evaluations.    
The project will generate 540 Gigawatt of power annually. He added that the tender bid will be announced to begin the construction work within 10 months.    
A source at the project informed New Business Age that the Tamakoshi-V is cheap according to per unit electricity generation investment.

The investment of the hydropower project is expected to cost less as the project is being built without constructing a dam, which will automatically save nature as all the structures are constructed underground.

According to the detailed project report (DPR), four units of 25 MW capacity each will be installed in the project. Water will be dropped from 160 m head through a 5.6 m diameter and 8.02 km tunnel from the Upper Tamakoshi Project.

The electricity generated will be linked to the Upper Tamakoshi substation through a 132 KV single circuit transmission line. 

The construction of the project started in early 2017.