At a time when the country has been passing through lockdown and obstruction of movement created by the spread of COVID-19, Tanahu Hydropower Project has achieved a major milestone. The project has made a breakthrough in 188 long cable-tunnels, a critical part of the project to start the excavation of powerhouse.

“Congratulation along with sincere appreciation to all involved for the breakthrough of cable tunnel as the achievement of the first milestone of the project despite the current exceptional circumstance of Covud-19,” writes Managing Director Pradip Kumar Thike, Tanahu Hydropower Limited, in his Facebook wall.

Not only of MD Thike, the breakthrough of the tunnel, one of the major, is achievements for the people involved in the project during the period of crisis.

The project was at the right time one time. However, following scrapping the contract with CMC in April 2019, an Italian builder, the project has to start the contract bidding process from scratch.

Although the contract work for package one is under the final process of selection, Chinese contractor Sino Hydro Corporation has been working in the site under the package 2. It assigns for powerhouse construction, procurement of hydro-mechanical and electro-mechanical equipment.

Having experiences in working number of hydropower projects in his carrier, MD Thike, however, has worked quietly. The company has involved in lengthy process publication of bidding, technical evaluation and another process.

Following the evaluation of the bid, the project has already submitted the technical bid evaluation report to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for concurrence on 5 August 2020. Now the project is waiting for the clearance before signing the agreement.

Under the package one construction, the work includes the construction of a 140-meter high dam, cofferdams, two river diversion tunnels and other structures.

The $550-million project is being built with a credit facility extended by the Asian Development Bank ($150 million), Japan International Cooperation Agency ($184 million), European Investment Bank ($85 million) and investment amounting to $87 million from the electricity authority and government.

The Tanahu Hydropower Project, one of the biggest reservoir-type projects in the country, is projected to generate massive 587.7-gigawatt-hours in the first 10 years of operation. The project can generate energy for six hours daily during the dry season.

The project aims to complete the construction of the storage type project and generate electricity by June 2024.