Main tunnel of Rahughat Hydropower sees a breakthrough

MYAGDI, JULY 30: Today, a breakthrough has been made in the main tunnel of the Rahughat Hydroelectricity Project. The project, which can generate 40 megawatts of power, is under construction in Raghuganga Rural Municipality of Myagdi district. It is a subsidiary project of Nepal Electricity Authority, while Raghuganga Hydropower is its promoter.

The main tunnel is 6,270 meters long and starts from the dam at the base of Dagnam in Rural Municipality-4, ending at Tilkenichaur in Rural Municipality-3, Project Managing Director Ganesh KC said.

The Project stated that the breakthrough was achieved by dividing the tunnel into four segments. Raghuganga Rural Municipality Chairman Bhawa Bahadur Bhandari and Managing Director KC jointly achieved the breakthrough by pushing a switch in the 2,332-meter-long tunnel linking the dam and Audit No. 2 at Agherikhola.

Eight hundred and seventy-five meters of the tunnel have been dug from Audit 1, and 1,458 meters from Audit 2. Lining work is in progress on the 3,836-meter-long Audit 2 and 3 tunnels that saw a breakthrough last March.

Bhandari, the Rural Municipality Chair, expressed happiness over the completion of the tunnel construction, stating that the tunnel is the main component of the project. He added that the Rural Municipality has facilitated and coordinated the project's work.

The Project is being developed with the Indian EXIM (Export-Import) Bank's concessional loan of 67 million US Dollars and the joint investment of NEA and the Government of Nepal.

The contract agreement for the construction of the Project was signed with the civil contractors Jaiprakash Associates (JP) in 2074 BS.