Contractor ready to start work

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE
UPPER TAMAKOSHI PROJECT

CHARIKOT: Sinohydro, the Chinese contractor company is set to start the civil structure work at Upper Tamakoshi Hydro Project within a month and a half.

According to project site in-charge Bishnu Thapa, after reaching agreement with the project a few days ago, Sinohydro is set to begin tunnel construction immediately and civil structure construction within one-and-a-half month.

Project authorities were pressing the company as it had delayed work for nearly two months even after the foundation stone was laid. The company has already delayed work by almost ten months citing various problems including customs clearance of imported materials from China, rigorous process for importing explosives from India and road obstruction caused by frequent landslides. As per the past agreement, the company was to initiate work on the tunnel by November last year, road upgradation by February and civil structure work by April.

However, Thapa said the company can still complete the project within the scheduled timeframe. Earlier, the company had to spend nine months just for just customs clearance at Tatopani for machinery and other materials imported from China. Though the project had agreed to charge only one per cent customs charge for construction material imported by the contractor company, the Finance Ministry had insisted on charging customs tax as per the market price of imported materials.

Likewise, Sinohydro is yet to import explosives from Indian even after spending five months for receiving approval from Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and then licence from the Indian government in Delhi.