Upper Tamakoshi – located on the Tamakoshi River in Lamabagar VDC of Dolakha District, Janakpur Zone – is a run-of-river plant with a live storage volume in the intake pond sufficient for daily peaking operation.
The Council of Ministers, Government of Nepal, has been active in establishing the entity, Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Ltd (UTKHPL), which is responsible for the development. The project will be financed from local sources. Main shareholders of UTKHPL are Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Nepal Telecom, Citizen lnvestment Trust and Rastriya Beema Sansthan.
Norconsult carried out the detailed feasibility study of the project, which was concluded in 2005, and has, in a JV with lahmeyer, also prepared the detailed engineering design and tender documents, which were concluded in 2009.
An Environmental and Social lmpact Assessment study of the project, comprising the generation plant and transmission line, was conducted by Norconsult in association with the Environmental and Social Studies Department of NEA as part of the feasibility study. These reports have been approved by the Government of Nepal.
Construction works on the project have begun, and include building access roads, dam and intake, waterways, diversions, underground powerhouse and a 90km long transmission line to the main grid at Dalkhebar on the Terai plain.
The project’s installed capacity of 456MW makes it the largest hydropower project to be developed in Nepal to date. The JV’s new contract includes construction design and construction supervision.
