{"id":20065725,"date":"2021-02-12T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=65725"},"modified":"2021-03-24T17:24:26","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T11:54:26","slug":"budhi-gandaki-nepals-mega-dam-remains-a-mirage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/water\/budhi-gandaki-nepals-mega-dam-remains-a-mirage\/","title":{"rendered":"Budhi Gandaki: Nepal\u2019s mega-dam remains a mirage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Plans to build Nepal\u2019s biggest ever hydropower project have gone through a bewildering series of politically motivated changes since 2011. Now it seems the Nepali government cannot get the Chinese contractor to say when construction might start.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the lives of some 50,000 people are being disrupted for a project Nepali energy sector experts have criticised as fast becoming financially unviable, due to the falling costs of other renewables, such as wind and solar.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Budhi Gandaki hydro project was meant to be finished by 2022, almost doubling Nepal\u2019s electricity supply by adding 1200 megawatts (MW). The project plans envisage a lake 45 kilometres long in central and western Nepal, behind a dam 263 metres high (one of the world\u2019s 10 tallest). The reservoir\u2019s steady flow should permit output of 3.38 billion units of electricity a year. The Budhi Gandaki river is a major tributary of the Gandak river which carries turbulent Himalayan waters into northern India.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem? China Gezhouba Group Corporation shows no sign of starting work. It was awarded the contract without a tender in September 2018, a decision that was controversial at the time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-8.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-8-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-8-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-8-1400x788.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-8-1800x1013.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-8.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 999px) 1024px, (max-width: 1400px) 1400px, (max-width: 2000px) 2000px, 2500px\" alt=\"nd the surrounding fertile land\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">A drone shot of Khahare Bazaar, one of the biggest settlements on the tributary. The bazaar will be submerged in water [Image: Nabin Baral]<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-8.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"4 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1407\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2500\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have tried to communicate with the company in the past few months, but it hasn\u2019t responded clearly. We can neither say the company is out, nor it\u2019s in. It is between somewhere and nowhere,\u201d said Gokarna Raj Panta, deputy spokesperson at Nepal\u2019s Ministry of Water Resources, Energy and Irrigation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Between somewhere and nowhere is a fitting description of the lives of farmers and traders whose homes, land and livelihoods are due to be submerged.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the project office in Siurenitar which was set up to deal with compensation claims, there is frantic activity. Phones ring constantly, and staff are busy taking calls from claimants.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-lives-in-limbo\">Lives in limbo<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-map-embed block--map-embed\"><div class=\"block--map-embed__column\"><div class=\"block--map-embed__embed aspect-ratio--16-9\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/510653573\"><\/iframe><\/div><div class=\"block--map-embed__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--map-embed__caption\">Video: Nabin Baral<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe government\u2019s first priority is land clearance, so we have already paid about 33 billion rupees (USD 0.3 billion) as land compensation,\u201d said Krishna Bahadur Karki, head of the compensation and resettlement unit. Another 20 billion rupees (USD 0.2 billion) is earmarked to reimburse locals for their houses, animal sheds, trees and other valuable infrastructure, he added.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most villagers got their first inkling of the coming upheaval in 2013 when the government put restrictions on their rights to sell their lands and property, stating the area would be submerged.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time, new roads were under construction, and new towns were forming along the river valleys, driven by two decades of rapid migration from the hills to the valleys.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-compensation-shortfalls\">Compensation shortfalls<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-map-embed block--map-embed\"><div class=\"block--map-embed__column\"><div class=\"block--map-embed__embed aspect-ratio--16-9\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/510658257\"><\/iframe><\/div><div class=\"block--map-embed__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--map-embed__caption\">Video: Nabin Baral<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Forty kilometres north of the dam site, Ghare Gurung runs a roadside grillhouse. Two decades ago, he bought his roadside land in Arkhet township, Gorkha district, using money he had earned as a migrant labourer in Malaysia. He received USD 1,000 in compensation for his land. \u201cNow they have been saying that a 10% depreciation cost would be applied for our infrastructure.&nbsp; If it happens, then I need to pay them instead of receiving money,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The area affected is a huge proportion of this small country. The project will submerge 45 kilometres of the Budhi Gandaki and another 22 kilometres of the valley of Aankhu Khola, the largest settlement on the tributary.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-14.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-14-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-14-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-14-1400x787.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-14-1800x1012.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-14.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 999px) 1024px, (max-width: 1400px) 1400px, (max-width: 2000px) 2000px, 2500px\" alt=\"\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">Gyanu Maya Shrestha pictures at her shop in Hepne in Dhading district. [Image: Nabin Baral\/The Third Pole]<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-14.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1406\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2500\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Gyanu Maya Shrestha, who sells samosa, noodles, tea and sel roti (rice flour bread) in her small hut close to the tributary\u2019s bank in Hepne, in Dhading district, said her business has been blighted twice over.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In April 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook Nepal. It destroyed her concrete home and her animal shed, killing her buffaloes, oxen, and goats. Before the quake, officials from the project had measured both structures. \u201cAfter the earthquake, they remeasured and are telling us that they will compensate for these new makeshifts, not the older house,\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Officials at the compensation and resettlement office responded that the pre-quake measurements were for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report, not compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While many other quake-hit communities have built new houses, people along these two rivers have not.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-map-embed block--map-embed\"><div class=\"block--map-embed__column\"><div class=\"block--map-embed__embed aspect-ratio--16-9\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/510664844\"><\/iframe><\/div><div class=\"block--map-embed__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--map-embed__caption\">Video: Nabin Baral<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Krishna Majhi lives in Gumti village, 10 kilometres north of the damsite.&nbsp; He and his fellow villagers have been living on unregistered land for decades. In May 2017, the council of ministers agreed to include structures on unregistered land in the compensation programme. More than three years later, no payments have been made. Project officials said the payments are in process but could not give any dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Krishna uses part of his cracked old house as a kitchen but has spent five years living in a makeshift structure. There are severe cracks in the house walls. \u201cAnother small earthquake would be enough to kill us. We can\u2019t dismantle it as we need to show the authorities if they come to check while paying compensation,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-resettlement-mirage\">Resettlement mirage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-9.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-9-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-9-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-9-1400x788.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-9-1800x1013.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-9.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 999px) 1024px, (max-width: 1400px) 1400px, (max-width: 2000px) 2000px, 2500px\" alt=\"view of Arugath Bazaar, Budi Gandhi River\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">A drone shot of Arugath Bazaar, one of the biggest settlements on the Budhi Gandaki River valley bordering Gorkha and Dhading district in Nepal. The bazaar will be submerged in water. [Image: Nabin Baral]<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-9.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"3 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1407\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2500\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Many promises were made to locals to persuade them to handover their land, including the promise of resettlement. They were asked to fill in forms saying where they wanted to be resettled and what facilities they needed.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe were told that new villages will be built around the reservoir area up in the hills and we would be provided with all facilities, and a 235 kilometre-long ring road. Now we are hearing that they will build a link road not a ring road. Resettlement plans are not even on the horizon. All these years they made fools of us,\u201d said Sushil Dharel, from Khahare, another village on the Ankhu Khola.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-cd-related-news alignright block--related-news loading\" data-post-id=\"20065308\"><div class=\"block--related-news__image\"><\/div><div class=\"block--related-news__content\"><span class=\"block--related-news__heading\">Recommended<\/span><span class=\"block--related-news__title\"><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Back at the compensation office,&nbsp; the villagers\u2019 dissatisfaction is no surprise to Karki: \u201cA lot of people are unhappy, which I can understand,\u201d he said.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cThe compensation amount is many times higher than the government rates that are in the system. [But] we can\u2019t do what we want, as there are rules,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cThere are people who have received hundreds of thousand dollars and have bought houses in cities like Kathmandu too.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But locals take a different view. The land market operates informally, and actual rates are much higher than government allocated rates.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While some have done well from compensation payouts, the majority are from marginalised and poor communities. They resent the way the authorities persist in glorifying those who have benefitted, while downplaying the real problems faced by many.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur field is irrigable, there is a market nearby and we can produce three crops in a year. Even a small amount of land would make a comfortable living of a family of five to six. I can\u2019t buy a piece of land in an urban area with what I have received from the project compensation, how do I make a living there?\u201d said Pampha Khadka from Khahare, who burst into tears as she spoke.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-cd-related-news alignright block--related-news loading\" data-post-id=\"20024459\"><div class=\"block--related-news__image\"><\/div><div class=\"block--related-news__content\"><span class=\"block--related-news__heading\">Recommended<\/span><span class=\"block--related-news__title\"><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Nor do government officials in Kathmandu have any clear answers on resettlement timetables. \u201cWe have drafted a resettlement policy for the Budhi Gandaki project, but the problem is that there isn\u2019t clarity over the modality of project implementation. Unless its finalised, resettlement is not possible,\u201d said Gokarna Raj Panta, deputy spokesperson at Nepal\u2019s Ministry of Water Resources, Energy and Irrigation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-11.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-11-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-11-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-11-1400x934.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-11-1800x1200.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-11.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 999px) 1024px, (max-width: 1400px) 1400px, (max-width: 2000px) 2000px, 2500px\" alt=\"Purna Bahadur Ale watches his grandchildren playing on the bank of Budi Gandaki River in Shanti Bazaar in Gorkha district of Nepal\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">Purna Bahadur Ale watches his grandchildren playing on the bank of the Budhi Gandaki River in the Gorkha district of Nepal. The place will be submerged in water. [Image: Nabin Baral\/ The Third Pole]<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-11.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"4 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1667\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2500\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Botched resettlement policies are creating social problems. Some have spent money on frivolous celebrations, which means they will be homeless and landless if not resettled. Many have used payouts to meet their daily needs or pay debts, buy motorbikes or educate and marry off their children. \u201cI received about USD 900 for a piece of land. I spent USD 100 on my grandchildren and sent USD 800 to my daughter in Kathmandu for her studies,\u201d said Purna Bahadur Ale Magar from Arkhet village.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-environmental-damage-ignored\">Environmental damage ignored<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/bghep.gov.np\/images\/category\/EIA-Final-Report-2016.pdf\">environmental impact assessment<\/a> report, the reservoir will submerge 2,400 hectares of forest holding, 3.5 million individual trees in 38 plant species, and 19 mammal species, 9 of reptiles and 54 of birds. They include 15 protected species, and there are five fish species on the IUCN red list, whose habitat will dramatically change.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite this, civil society groups in Nepal have shown negligible concern.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cThere was a significant interest and movement in the 1990s advocating for inclusion of social and environmental costs for hydro projects but it\u2019s really dying now in Nepal \u2013 Budhigandaki is one of the examples,\u201d said Nepali water resources expert Ajaya Dixit. Instead, views \u201ctreating water as a commodity, leaving behind all its ecological, environmental importance\u201d are becoming stronger, he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forty-four cremation grounds, 74 religious sites and 29 historic and cultural sites will vanish.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEven if you raise genuine and serious concerns, you are tagged as an anti-development goon. I think this has helped to instill fear at all levels and civil society has fallen prey to it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-article-image aligncenter block--article-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--article-image__column\"><div class=\"block--article-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/20210204_Budhi-Gandaki-hydro-project_Mapboard-4.svg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/20210204_Budhi-Gandaki-hydro-project_Mapboard-4.svg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/20210204_Budhi-Gandaki-hydro-project_Mapboard-4.svg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/20210204_Budhi-Gandaki-hydro-project_Mapboard-4.svg 2000.24w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 1024px) 1024px, 2000.24px\" alt=\"budhi gandaki hydro project map\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--article-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--article-image__caption\">Map shows affected area and river stretches that would be inundated. Graphic: The Third Pole<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/20210204_Budhi-Gandaki-hydro-project_Mapboard-4.svg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"557 KB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1599.01\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2000.24\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Forest conservation achievements are being reversed; 1,500 hectares of community forest managed by 62 community forest user groups that will be impacted. The Pashupati community forest in Majhitaar is one of them. About 200 metres above the riverbank, Suresh Shah pointed out multiple freshly cut tree stumps. \u201cWhen I try to stop them, they say why do you care about these woods as we have lost everything,\u201d he said.&nbsp; \u201cFeelings of ownership are something that had helped conserve the forest but they\u2019re no more,\u201d he added.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Karki, the project office manager, was unable to answer any questions on environmental issues, and his engineer was equally at a loss. \u201cThis is an issue which will be dealt with when construction starts. We have not thought about it and have not been advised on how to deal with it,\u201d Karki said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With climate change impacting glacial meltwater and making river flows uncertain, Dixit questioned the value of mega-hydro projects: \u201cI think the country is moving towards a very serious and risky business without proper assessment.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-political-chaos\">Political chaos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In Kathmandu, three successive governments in the last three years have made as many decisions to award or scrap the contract with China Gezhouba Corporation.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After pre-feasibility study in 1984, the project was sidelined till 2006, when it was opened to international bidders. No expressions of interest were received.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was next revived in 2011, when Nepal\u2019s power outages exceeded 12 hours per day. Once again, international companies showed no interest, so the government opted to make Budhi Gandaki into a national pride project \u2013 a development priority with a bigger budget from domestic resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2016, the Belgian multinational <a href=\"https:\/\/tractebel-engie.com\/en\/the-history-of-tractebel\">Tractebel<\/a> completed a detailed design.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-pullout-stat alignleft undefined block--pullout-stat\"><p class=\"block--pullout-stat__title\">USD 2.5 billion<\/p><div class=\"block--pullout-stat__content\"><p>The estimated cost of the Budhi Gandaki hydropower plant in 2015, more than a quarter of Nepal\u2019s national budget that year<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The project was set to move ahead with national funds and management,&nbsp; then China entered the scene abruptly in 2017. A few days before leaving office, erstwhile Nepal Communist party (Maoist) supremo Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal\u2019s cabinet decided to award the project to China Gezhouba Group Corporation, without any bidding.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In November 2017, the incoming Nepali Congress Party-led government scrapped the contract with China Gezhouba, stating irregularities and lack of transparency surrounding the award. A court action followed. Nepal got another new government four months later, in February 2018. K P Oli became prime minister heading a coalition of Communist parties, which returned the project to China Gezhouba in September 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now the problem is that China Gezhouba is showing little interest and failing to respond to Nepali government requests for information.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s not that Chinese are&nbsp;less interested now. They are just waiting for a favourable time as there is political chaos in the country,\u201d said Nepali hydro-economist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/327182585_Power_Paradox_Growth_of_the_Hydro_Sector_in_Nepal\">Ratna Sansar Shrestha.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his view, China\u2019s interest in Nepali hydro projects is limited to making money from construction contracts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIndia has more interest in Nepal&#8217;s water as it depends on water that flows from the mountains for irrigating vast swathes of land in the Gangetic plains,\u201d Shrestha said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-geopolitical-friction\">Geopolitical friction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Gandaki river, of which the Budhi Gandaki is a tributary, enters India\u2019s Bihar state and eventually flows into the Ganges.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both countries signed the 1959 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moewri.gov.np\/storage\/listies\/May2020\/aggrement-on-nepal-and-india-gandak-river-1959.pdf\">Gandak treaty<\/a>, &nbsp;which bars Nepal from upstream activities that would impact water flow in Bihar, where millions of hectares of farmland depend on the Gandak\u2019s waters. Water distribution has long been a sensitive issue between the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, China\u2019s growing influence within Nepal (it is the largest provider of foreign direct investment) could lead to geopolitical friction, according to a 2018 report from the Asia Society, <a href=\"https:\/\/d.docs.live.net\/e1c187459a5a2ad1\/Documents\/The-Price-of-Power-The-Political-Economy-of-Electricity-Trade-and-Hydropower-in-Eastern-South-Asia\">\u201cThe Price of Power: The Political Economy of Electricity Trade and Hydropower in Eastern<em> South Asia<\/em>.\u201d<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chinese firms recently built two other hydro projects in Nepal at Upper Marsyangdi A and Upper Madi, with combined capacity of 75 MW. Indian state owned and private firms have not built a power project in Nepal since the mid-1980s, the report said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, India is promoting cross-border trade in electricity as part of cohering the nascent BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal) regional sub-group of nations as a sphere of influence. Both Nepal and Bhutan have objected to the Indian power ministry\u2019s statement in December 2016 that electricity was a \u201cstrategic commodity\u201d so non-BBIN foreign powers could not be involved in the supply chain. Both countries have rich potential hydropower exports.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Shrestra\u2019s view, India is unconcerned about China\u2019s involvement in the Budhi Gandaki project, whose power is solely for domestic use, and it views the reservoir positively.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn general, India is not happy with Chinese companies being involved in Nepal&#8217;s hydropower, but in Budhi Gandaki they are more than happy as India would get lean-season augmented flow for free.&nbsp; India is waiting for more blunders like this from Nepal on storage projects,&#8221; he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>India made clear it had no interest in investing in or building the Budhi Gandaki project; it withdrew from bilateral talks in the late 90s.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-faulty-design\">Faulty design?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile designing the project, the irrigation aspect has been completely ignored,\u201d said Dipak Gyawali, former water resources minister and a noted water resources expert in the country.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gyawali has also headed a review committee formed by the government to review the design.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAbout 100,000 hectares of land in Nawalparasi and Chitwan districts downstream could have benefitted in Nepal, which seems to be a strategy to make India happy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe water that flows in dry months from the reservoir is not flowing water, it&#8217;s produced by submerging our land and through our investment. If India uses this water then we should get financial returns,\u201d added Gyawali.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another problem Gyawali sees in this project is that the dam type is faulty. \u201cFor a seismically active region like Nepal, rock filled dams are better than concrete double arch dams as proposed on the design,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-13.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-13-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-13-1400x934.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-13-1800x1200.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-13.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 999px) 1024px, (max-width: 1400px) 1400px, (max-width: 2000px) 2000px, 2500px\" alt=\"\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">Krishna Majhi pictured at his house. The walls has cracks from the 2015 earthquake in Gumti, a village in Dhading. [Image: Nabin Baral\/The Third Pole]<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Budigandaki-photo-13.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"3 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1667\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2500\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>But Laxmi Devkota, the former Chair of the Budhi Gandaki Development Committee, claimed that it has been designed with a serious consideration for earthquake impacts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have designed the current dam with the highest level of earthquake resistance along with international safety standards. There isn\u2019t a point as such to worry,\u201d added Devkota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-changing-market-increasing-costs\">Changing market, increasing costs&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the delays risk making the Budhi Gandaki project financially unviable. Costs are plummeting for other renewables, such as solar and wind power, and emerging hydrogen energy technology.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Asia Foundation <a href=\"https:\/\/asiafoundation.org\/publication\/the-price-of-power\/\">report<\/a>, solar electricity tariffs in Rajasthan, India, fell from more than 19 US cents per unit in 2010 to 3.6 US cents, and wind energy was&nbsp; around 3.7 US cents. Nepal\u2019s hydropower costs 7 US cents per unit to produce.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-cd-related-news alignright block--related-news loading\" data-post-id=\"20027117\"><div class=\"block--related-news__image\"><\/div><div class=\"block--related-news__content\"><span class=\"block--related-news__heading\">Recommended<\/span><span class=\"block--related-news__title\"><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>India, which is Nepal\u2019s expected energy export market, is ramping up renewable energy capacity fast with 37 gigawatts of solar and 38 gigawatts in wind by 2020.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Budhi Gandaki\u2019s output is planned for domestic use so need not compete directly in the regional market.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nonetheless, the technical costs are making its value questionable, even for domestic use.&nbsp; \u201cIf we can develop this project within five years then we will definitely save some money, but if it is the next 20 years then it would be a hotpot of corruption for politicians and bureaucrats. It looks like this project is losing its technical strength in terms of cost already,\u201d said Dipendra Bhattarai, an energy expert and doctoral student at the University of Tasmania, Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-cd-related-news alignright block--related-news loading\" data-post-id=\"20025273\"><div class=\"block--related-news__image\"><\/div><div class=\"block--related-news__content\"><span class=\"block--related-news__heading\">Recommended<\/span><span class=\"block--related-news__title\"><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, the daily power cuts that drove Nepal&#8217;s policymakers to revive the project in 2011 have ceased.&nbsp; Nepal doubled its electricity production from 700 megawatts (MW) in 2010 to 1400 MW in 2014. Another 700 MW is likely to be added in the next couple of years. However, Nepal has been importing about 600 megawatts from India in the dry, winter months (November to April) to meet peak demand as the smaller \u201crun-of-the-river\u201d hydropower projects struggle when water levels are low &#8211; one motivation to build a big reservoir.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Budhi Gandaki hydropower plant should have been completed by 2022. In 2015, the project cost was estimated at US$2.5 billion\u2014 more than one fourth of Nepal\u2019s total budget that year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have already lost about half a billion dollars in the last four years if we consider just 10 per cent inflation rate. Another one and half billion dollars could have been gained by selling electricity in the four years that were delayed. We are already on loss at total project cost amount\u201d said Laxmi Devkota.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The lives of at least 50,000 people are on hold waiting for a Chinese company to build a prestige power plant that will flood their homes <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3569,"featured_media":20065685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50039903],"tags":[50040314,554,50040707],"hashtags":[],"country":[20000113],"class_list":["post-20065725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-water","tag-dams","tag-hydropower","tag-the-third-pole","country-nepal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Budhi Gandaki: Nepal\u2019s mega-dam remains a mirage | Dialogue 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