IT IT OUR WATER STRATEGY?
Bonanza for Foreigner and Deadly Poison for the NEA
AB Thapa
Recently the Upper Karnali and Upper Tama-Kosi projects have come at the forefront of the news. A foreign company has been granted license to implement the Upper Karnali project, whereas it falls on the NEA to implement the Upper Tama-Kosi project. For the foreign company it is going to be a bonanza to bag the Upper Karnali project regarded as the jewel in the crown. On the contrary the NEA might be swallowing deadly poison by agreeing on to implement the killer glacier lakes endangered Upper Tama-Kosi project.
International community must be losing confidence and our government might have already become an object of ridicule for the simple reason that our decision makers are virtually ignorant about water resources technology. . Our government is becoming the laughing-stock of the world community.
Horrifying Ignorance
Prime ministers of Nepal and India had signed an agreement to conduct detailed feasibility study of the Kosi dam project which is expected to be one of the largest multipurpose water resources projects in the whole world. The project is considered indispensable to save the life and property of millions in Nepal and India. It is also proposed to provide as a component of this giant project a navigation canal linking Nepal with the Ganges waterway. Such canal will help to connect our landlocked country with the seaport. The project is expected to provide large irrigation and power benefits also.
Unfortunately our Ministry of Water Resources has ridiculed itself by taking extremely irresponsible decisions even in dealing with an enormously large and strategically very important project, like the Kosi dam project. Such dealings might have greatly undermined the credibility of our government.
At present one wing of the Ministry of Water Resources and the Indian experts have already started to conduct jointly the detailed study of the Kosi project. At this very time to the great horror of everybody another wing of the same Water Resources Ministry without the slightest hesitation has granted license to implement the Lower Arun Project. The Kosi Dam Project and the Lower Arun Project are mutually exclusive because the hydropower and many other structures of Lower Arun Project would be submerged into the Kosi reservoir after the implementation of the Kosi dam project.
A very large project, like the Kosi high dam project, draws the attention of the whole world. Our dealings with the Kosi dam project might have made our country the laughing-stock of the international community.
Upper Karnali the Jewel in the Crown
The topography of the Upper Karnali project has a special feature that provides an unique opportunity to dispense with the need for costly structures like the high dam to produce dependable energy on a large scale. The narrow hill, that separates the upper and lower courses of the Upper Karnali flowing in directions opposite to one another, acts just like a high dam. Among the run-of- the river type hydropower projects the Upper Karnali is truly the jewel in the crown.
The Upper Karnali project can be developed at an astonishingly low cost within a short span of time to produce abundant firm energy during the dry months when our demand for electricity is the highest. This project is particularly suited to serve the best to solve our present power shortage crisis. Moreover, we might be able to implement this project in two or even more stages.
It could be possible at first stage to dispense with the need for weir or barrage in order to reduce the initial investment. We could simply build a 60 MW hydropower to draw water directly from the river about 50% dry season flow of the Karnali at an investment of just around US $ 150 million. The hydropower would be producing electricity in dry months approximately two times more by comparison with the generation of the Marshyangdi Hydropower project, which is now in operation.
Foreign Company’s Interest Takes Priority
Unfortunately, our government has been denying the NEA the opportunity to build the Upper Karnali project. The NEA might have been able to make up for its past financial losses and at the same time the present power shortage crisis to a considerable extent could have been resolved, if the NEA would have been given the chance to build the Upper Karnali project. It is quite surprising that our government decided to gratify a foreign company by offering this project. Whereas, the NEA has been forced to move to environmentally very hostile extreme northern region bordering with China in search of a site suitable to build a relatively big run-of-river type hydropower project based on quite a large dependable flow.
Killer Glacier Lakes Endangered Upper Tama-Kosi
Now the NEA ‘s hope to resolve the present energy shortage crisis rests on the Upper Tama-Kosi project, which is located very close to boarder with China. In general, it is a good project. The total generation capacity of this project is more or less equal to that of the Upper Karnali. But the most serious drawback of this project is the great danger from the glacier lake outburst floods. The Japanese experts of the Kosi basin master plan study team, who had prepared preliminary reports of all the possible hydropower projects, had excluded the Upper Tama-Kosi project. They might have done so for fear that it would be too dangerous to build big hydropower projects very close to large glacier lakes.
Goggle Map and Overhanging Glacier Lakes
We can ourselves observe by logging on the Goggle map that there are very large glacier lakes on either sides of the Upper Tama-Kosi at a short distance away from the project site in the vicinity of the China-Nepal boarder. Those glacier lakes are hanging at heights over two kilometers above the dam site. Even according to the NEA studies there are six large glacier lakes within the Tibet representing high hazard for the project. The volume of all those glacier lakes is continuously increasing due to global temperature rises. They would become even more dangerous in the years to come.
Economy in Collapse
It would be too dangerous to implement the Upper Tama-Kosi project without being absolutely sure that the glacier lake outburst floods do not pose threat to the project. We should not forget how already once in our own country the Austrian government made Namche hydropower project was totally washed away by the Digcho glacier lake outburst flood. We should not lose sight of the terrible consequences for the whole country in the event the Upper Tama-Kosi project would be damaged by glacier lake outburst flood. The moment the news reach our capital that the Upper Tama-Kosi project built at a cost of more than half billion US Dollars has been significantly damaged by the glacier flood, the economy of our country would be instantly driven to a state of virtual collapse. .
It will be necessary to conduct thorough studies of the glacier lakes located inside Tibet. This type of study will take quite a long time. It is perfectly clear that the Upper Tama-Kosi project can not be identified as the suitable project to resolve our present power shortage crisis.
In Conclusion
Our government must immediately revoke its decision to grant private companies to implement the Lower Arun and Dudh-Kosi projects to assure the peoples of Nepal and India that we are fully committed to bring to a meaningful conclusion the feasibility studies of the Kosi dam project and the Sun-Kosi dam project. Similarly the Upper Karnali decision should also be revoked. Instead, the NEA must be granted the permission to implement that project . The NEA would be able to implement this project within a short time span. As a result, the present energy shortage crisis of our country to a great extent could be quickly solved at far less investment.
