Punatshangchhu-I Hydroelectric Project Authority (PHPA-I) will be striving towards achieving their work performance as per the Annual Performance Agreement (APA) 2020-2021 signed recently. The project could not achieve the works agreed under the earlier performance Agreement due to geological and structural issues.
The chairman of the authority, Economic Affairs Minister Loknath Sharma and the Managing Director of the project signed the APA for 2020-2021. It is an effort to expedite the construction which has been delayed.
“During the current APA target, we have promised that we will be focussing more on powerhouse leftover civil works and generating plant and equipment which are pending. As of now, we are waiting for the third party review consultancy report and once those reports are finalised, then we will be finalising these target also,” said Naveen Chander Bansal, the Managing Director of PHPA-I.
The review is being done on the area where the dam is being constructed. It remains a critical activity for the project ever since the slide of the entire slope of the right bank in 2013. Since then, two more major slides have occurred there, one in August 2016 and another in January 2019 delaying the dam construction.
“During the last APA target despite our best efforts, we could not achieve some of the targets as there was more complexity involved in the implementation of those targets; like we could not achieve the target for providing the holistic solution for the dam construction and some of the targets related to Pothead Yard building and Surge Shaft completion. Actually, holistic reports were to be submitted by our consultants and those consultants they did some more studies to be made before submission of those report. So, they took slightly more time,” he added.
The project is also planning to recruit Bhutanese and foreign skilled workers. And that will decide whether the project can be completed by 2025.
Changa Dorji
