March 29: The government has signed agreement with China Overseas Engineering Group for the construction of  tunnel of the Sunkoshi Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project.

The government had selected the Chinese firm for this project in the first week of March. Alhough the government has already signed an agreement with the company, the process of constructing the tunnel will start only after a year.

According to Project Director Sushil Acharya, Tunnel Boring Machine will be used for the construction of the tunnel. This method has been used and proved successful in Bheri Babai tunnel construction project. It will take more than a year to acquire in the machine, so construction will start in a year, said Krishna Prasad Nepal, spokesperson of the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation.

China Overseas Company needs to prepare a design of the machine and get it approved by the department and this process will take around six months. It takes further three to four months to build the machine. The company needs to get the machine from the USA. And the procurement process will take another three to four months. Therefore, government officials say the construction process will start only after year. The procurement and transportation cost of the machine is estimated to cost Rs 1 billion.

“In the next one year, the process of getting the machine as well as other required preparation here in the country will take place simultaneously,” said Nepal.

The proposed multipurpose project plans to construct 13.2 km long tunnel to divert the Sunkoshi river to the Marin river located in Kamalamai Municipality of Sindhuli district. The government had estimated the cost of the tunnel construction to be around Rs 15 billion. But the Chinese firm offered to construct the tunnel at Rs 10.5 billion.

China Overseas Engineering Group had constructed the tunnel in Bheri-Babai Diversion project as well. Apart from the tunnel construction, resources have not been arranged to construct other infrastructures required for the project. The department needs to call for applications to build other infrastructure like head works, powerhouse, hydro mechanical works among others. The department will seek for applications as soon as financial resources are arranged.

Meanwhile, the project has completed other tasks like distributing compensation to the affected families, cutting down trees in the project area. The total cost of the project is estimated to be around Rs 46 billion. This project, which aims to provide irrigation facilities in Province 2, was enlisted as a National Pride Project in February 2020. Four districts of Province 2- Bara Rautahat, Mahottari and Sarlahi - will get irrigation facility once this project is completed. 

Along with irrigation facility, the project plans to generate 29 MW of electricity.