Khimti Project School (KPS), a school that started fourteen years ago with assistance from Himal Power Limited (HPL) has achieved 100% pass rate (Distinction: 77%, First Division: 23%, Passed in Total: 100%) in the 2065 School Leaving Certificate (SLC) results published a few days ago.

HPL is currently contributing around 80-90% of the running costs. The school has around 450 students, of which approximately 90% are from the local community and 10% from HPL. All the buildings used by the school have been constructed by HPL.

Besides helping with the school, HPL has a clinic at Kirne and a dispensary at the intake site at Palati, which together receives approximately 16,000 patients every year. All costs are borne by HPL except the medicines, which are purchased in bulk through UMN and sold at approximately actual cost.

Additionally, HPL has contributed to the community with other initiatives and projects like the Khimti Neighbourhood Development (KiND) Project, which is a public-private partnership project between the Norwegian Government and HPL, sanctioned by the Government of Nepal and implemented through UNDP. Its budget is USD 3.9 million (NOK 19.6 million –Norwegian Government, NOK 2.6 million – HPL, USD 200,000-UNDP) and has been running from 2007 till 2010. The beneficiaries are 5 VDCs of Dolakha and 7 of Ramechhap.

KiND’s major activities include community mobilization, rural electrification (about 3,100 households), mini hydropower plant (400 kW Haluwa Khola), rural enterprise development support, basic rural infrastructure development support (schools, irrigation systems, drinking water systems and toilets) and capacity building of the Khimti Rural Electric Cooperative (KREC). nepalnews.com