During the National Assembly session yesterday, the government announced that plan for Chamkhar chu Hydropower project is withdrawn. The Economic Affairs Minister said the project will have a huge negative impact on the environment and may cost more than what can be achieved later after the construction.
The Chamkhar Chu hydropower construction plan took more than 15 years now. The project was expected to commence since the last government’s tenure in 2015. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering said that the cost for the Puna Tsangchu Hydropower escalated from initially Nu 30bn to Nu 100bn, with Nu 70bn estimated for the Chamkhar Chu project – the escalation would be enormous. According to the Economic minister, the construction will cost the country overwhelmingly.
“Economic experts and environmentalists claim that the project is risky and not feasible. That is why we are putting up Sunkosh as our top flagship programme. The expenditure for the hydropower project is estimated to be very high. There’s even a risk that we may not get the desired tax from exporting electricity and the economic liability is high. According to the experts, it will also have a huge negative impact on the environment. I don’t think we can do it in 5 years,” the Economic Affairs Minister Loknath Sharma said.
“People hailing from Kheng-Rig-Nam-Sum will be disappointed in the government now. In the past Chamkhar Chu project was in the top list of the flagship programmes but now, it is scrapped after many years of discussions. We have informed and assured the people that Chamkhar chu hydropower plant construction will commence soon on our constituency tours. But now, it is cancelled all of a sudden. It’s disappointing,” the Panbang MP Dorji Wangdi said.
The Panbang MP added that the plans for constructing the hydropower were already made and were in place.
However, people can now hope to see the replacement of the Chamkhar Chu hydropower plant by Sunkosh hydropower plant.
The government aims to generate 10,000 Mega Watt by 2020 using the hydropower present in the country.
