The Peninsula Foundation

Author: Ajay Chathurvedi

  • The Bridge on River Chenab

    The Bridge on River Chenab

    “The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible”

    -Arthur C. Clarke

    Introduction

    On 13 Aug 2022, the bridge on the River Chenab in the Reasi District of J&K was finally completed. It was a case of the impossible becoming possible. It all happened because of a very high degree of self-belief of those who planned it and the sincerity of thousands of those who worked hard for the last 18 years.   Indeed, it was the best gift the Indian Railway in general and Indian Engineers, in particular, could give to India on the 76th Independence Day of India. It is also highly symbolic that it is located in the State of J&K and in a way appeared to be a giant step towards the integration of J&K with the rest of the country.

    The Bridge over the River Chenab is part of the Jammu-Udhampur-Baramulla Railway line, which is being constructed. While Sections of Jammu-Udhampur, Udhampur-Katra and Banihal-Baramulla are already completed and opened for traffic, section Katra- Banihal is still not complete. The degree of difficulty in this section is enormous. Besides this Bridge on Chenab (more about it a little later), the Bridge on Anji Khad (which is under construction) and a total of 35 tunnels and 37 bridges make this section of 111 km in the mountainous terrain extremely challenging and an engineering marvel in the making.

    Progress of the Project –  It is a 356 km railway project, starting at Jammu and going up to Baramulla. It was started in 1983 with the objective of connecting Jammu Tawi to Udhampur.  Construction of the route faced natural challenges including major earthquake zones, extreme temperatures and inhospitable terrain.  Finally, in 2005  The 53 km long Jammu–Udhampur section opened after 21 years with 20 tunnels and 158 bridges. The cost of the project had escalated to ₹515 crores from the original estimated cost of ₹50 crores.  In 1994 The railway accepted the necessity to extend the track to Baramulla. However, at that point it was thought that the project will have two disconnected arms; one from Jammu to Udhampur and the second from Qazigund to Baramulla. In 2002 the GoI declared this project to be a national project. This means hereafter, the entire funding will be from the Central Budget. At that time the necessity was also accepted to connect the two disconnected arms. The estimated cost of the project assessed then was   ₹6,000 crore.  In 2008 the 66 km section between Anantnag and Manzhama (outside Srinagar) was opened for traffic. In 2009 this Service was extended to Baramulla. During the same year, the line from Anantnag was extended to Qazigund.

    Also  Around the same time, an extension of the track from Baramulla to Kupwara was proposed, and its survey got completed in 2009. In 2009 itself, work on the section between Katra and Qazigund resumed after a review based on geotechnical studies. In 2011, an 11.215 Km long Banihal Qazigund tunnel across the Pir Panjal Range was completed.  This paved the way for a trial run in Dec 2012 from Banihal to Qazigund. In 2014 the train route from Udhampur to Katra was also operationalised. Now the only missing link in this nationally vital rail line was Katra-Banihal. Finally, in 2018 the GoI approved the extension of the railway line to Kupwara.

    Degree of Difficulty in Katra- Banihal Section – This is a 111 km long stretch. 97.34 km of this stretch will be through tunnels. There are 20 Major (including the bridge across the Chenab river and a bridge on Anji Khad) and 10 minor bridges on this stretch. 

    Bridge Across Chenab

    Location: The Chenab Rail Bridge is a steel and concrete arch bridge between Bakkal and Kauri in the Reasi district of J&K, India.  It needs to be noted that it is the highest railway bridge in the world. After many hick-ups, finally in 2012 excavation of the foundation of the bridge commenced. The tender was with Afcons Infrastructure Limited. The alignment crosses a deep gorge of the Chenab River, which necessitates the construction of a long-span railway bridge with a viaduct for approaches on either side. 

    Details: It is a 785 meters long single arch bridge where the main arch is 467 meters. The total span of the bridge is 1315 meters including a viaduct of 650 meters on the Northern side, Deck height is 359 meters above the river bed and 322 meters above the water surface which is 35 meters more than the height of the Eiffel Tower. The project also entails the construction of 203 km of access roads.  The deck is 13.5 meters wide, where two rail tracks will be available. The total cost of the Bridge is Rs 1486 Crores.

     

    Design: The steel arch has been planned because the construction of the pillar was difficult and the load had to be distributed. Chords have been provided to cater for the swaying load. The steel structures of the bridge were manufactured in workshops built in the mountains. The workshops had been moved to the building site because there is no proper road network in the challenging terrain. The longest building parts that could be delivered to the site were 12 meters in length. Therefore, four workshops were established in the mountains. Workshops and paint shops were built on both sides of the valley. All steel materials, except for the smallest rolled profiles, were delivered to the mountains as steel boards. The insufficient infrastructure of the area caused additional problems. There was no electricity and the water of the river was not suitable for manufacturing concrete. All electricity had to be produced at the site and the water was delivered from further away in the mountains. The job was also challenging because the track had a curvature in the approach bridge. In this section, the construction stage bearings had been designed in such a way that it was possible to launch the steel deck in the curvature portion as well. The bridge consists of about 25000 tonnes of steel structures, the main portion of which was used for the arch bridge section. It is a unique design and as such none of the Indian codes fully catered for the design validation. Therefore it was decided to follow the BS Code. The design also caters for wind load effects as per wind tunnel tests. It can cater for wind pressure of 1500 Pa. It is a blast resistance design. The design of the decking has been checked for fatigue as per the BS Code. The most important aspect is that it caters for redundancy within the structure, for a lower level of operation during mishaps and against collapse in extreme cases of one-pier failure. The area has high seismicity and the design was planned to withstand earthquakes of the severity of 8 on the Richter Scale. The bridge design is for a rail speed of 100 kmph. This means it can withstand very high-intensity of vibrations. The designed life of the bridge is 120 years and to take care of assessed steel fatigue the fatigue design selected is BS:5400 Part-10. The bridge will be able to withstand a temperature of minus 200C and a wind speed of 266 kmph.

    Team: The viaduct and foundation have been designed by M/s WSP(Finland) and the Arch design has been made by M/s Leonhart, Andra and Partners (Germany), the foundation protection has been designed by IISc Bangalore. The executing agency has been M/s Konkan Railway Corporation Limited.

    Status of Katra-Banihal project

    Although, the construction of Chenab Bridge is a major milestone in the progress of the project, however, still many more landmarks are required to be crossed before the completion of the project. Foremost of them is the Anji Khad bridge which is expected to be ready only by Dec 2022. It is expected that this rail Section will finally be operational by the middle of 2023.

    Conclusion

    The Jammu-Udhampur-Katra-Banihal-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail project is a vital national project which has a major bearing on national security and nation building. It is a matter of pride that Indian Engineers have achieved what at one point had appeared impossible. It will help in the integration of J&K with the rest of the country and will help strategically in many ways. The completion of the project will also give confidence to expeditiously complete other projects of national importance like; the railway line to Leh and the Railway line to Tenga in the North-East.

    End Note:

    1. Conceptual Design of the Chenab Bridge in India by Pekka Pulkkine WSP Finland, S Hopf and A Jutila. Available on Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257725212_Conceptual_Design_of_the_Chenab_Bridge_in_India.

    2. An internet upload: https://byjus.com/current-affairs/chenab-bridge/

    3. A Report by OT Staff, “Once the bridge is completed, it will provide all-weather connectivity between Kashmir and the rest of India” reported on 07 Apr 2021 and uploaded on https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/travelnews/story/71397/all-about-the-chenab-bridge

    4. An internet upload: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammu–Baramulla_line

    5. An internet upload: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenab_Rail_Bridge

    6. An internet upload: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1709652

    7. Zee Media Bureau, “Indian Railways: Delhi-Kashmir, Katra-Banihal train route to open soon, project nears completion” dated 08 Aug 2022 and uploaded on https://zeenews.india.com/railways/indian-railways-delhi-kashmir-katra-banihal-train-route-to-open-soon-project-nears-completion-2494827.html

    Image 1 Credits: Arun Ganesh

    Image 2 Credits: Indian Railways

    Image 3 Credits: Indian Express

    Image 4 Credits: Indian Railways

    Feature Image Credits: The Indian Express

  • Optimisation of Water Resources

    Optimisation of Water Resources

    Community participation is the most important aspect of resource management and in this connection, the role of Panchayat, NGOs and Civil Society is very important. Therefor, a planned awareness strategy needs to be prepared and implemented.

    Introduction:

    Once again after the current sweltering warm weather, the monsoon is eagerly awaited; not only to get a respite from the heat but also to get water so essential for the crops. The good news is that as per the IMD prediction, this year the monsoon is going to be normal. However, the question is whether we are ready to make use of nature’s bounty for us? It may be noted that the total quality of water available in the world is 1600 million cubic km and 97.5% of it is saline. Of the balance, 2.5% of the fresh water, most of it lies deep and frozen in Antarctica and Greenland. Only 0.26% is available in rivers, lakes and in the soil and shallow aquifer.

    According to NITI Aayog surface water availability in India is 257 BCM of water per year which is likely to go up to 385 BCM in near future. India also has 432 BCM rechargeable ground water. India uses 634 BCM of water per year to grow food, generate energy and satisfy the needs of industry. Thus, theoretically, the availability should meet the requirements but the situation on the ground has many problems and availability gets impacted by other environmental and man-made factors. In this connection following two reports from World Bank and NASA are relevant.

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  • India-China Border Stand-Off

    India-China Border Stand-Off

    On the 5th and 6th May 2020, Chinese incursions were reported at a very large frontage along the Line of Actual Control (LAC); starting from Naku La in north Sikkim, in Finger area of Pangong Tso, in Galwan Valley, Hot springs and Gogra heights located north-east of Galwan Valley. These incursions were a little different from all previous border standoffs. This time the Chinese incursion has been at multiple places and also, they had come prepared with weapons, vehicles and tents. They had come in large numbers with an intent to dig in.
    The issue came to light when scuffles were reported by the media on 10 May that some Chinese had intruded into the Muguthang Valley at Naku La and asked Indians to vacate the area as they claimed that it was their land. A scuffle ensued . According to PTI, the incident involved 150 soldiers. During the incident, the two sides threw stones at each other.

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  • COVID-19: Fighting CoronaVirus

    COVID-19: Fighting CoronaVirus

    At the end of December, public health officials from China informed the World Health Organization that they had a problem: an unknown, new virus was causing pneumonia-like illness in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province. They quickly determined that it was a coronavirus and that it was rapidly spreading through and outside of Wuhan.

    Today, the entire world is seized with the menace of CoronaVirus (COVID-19) believed to have originated in China. The first reported case was on 31 December 2019 and now 188 countries are affected. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared it a pandemic on 11 March 2020. Although China has now reported that it controlled and contained the epidemic, the virus has spread rapidly to cover almost the entire globe. The new hotspots are USA, Italy, and Spain, with Italy and Spain reporting  10779 and 7340 deaths respectively while the USA accounts for 2489 deaths; compared to China’s 3304 deaths . India as on 30 Mar 2020 had reported 1100 cases with a death toll of 29.   Till date 735,015 cases are reported and the numbers are rising. 34,804 people have died and 156,122 have recovered. A total of 544,089 cases are still active and about 5% of these are critical. Of the closed cases, 18% have been reported to have died. Worst affected is Italy. India has  reported 1100 cases as on 30th March 2020 and in the last two days more than 200 cases have been added to the affected number. In this connection, the alarming aspect is that while it took 40 days for the first fifty cases to come up, the next 50 were reported within a day , despite the Janata Curfew on 22 March. This makes the situation critical and though India may not be  in Stage III (community spread) as yet, it looks like that we are close to it. According to media reports on 23 March 2020, Kerala and Bhilwara in Rajasthan have probably descended to Stage-III. Dr Ramanan Laxminarayanan, Director of Center for Disease, Economics and Policy has warned that India could be dealing with a tsunami of COVID-19. As per his estimate, India could be dealing with as many as 300 million cases of which 4-5 million could be serious. India needs to take a note of this rate criticality. As the Prime Minister in his address to the nation stated, the situation is grave,  serious and every Indian needs to act responsibly to fight the menace with determination and show utmost discipline in personal conduct.

    Image Credit : Wikipedia Commons

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  • India and Nepal: Energy Cooperation

    India and Nepal: Energy Cooperation

    Introduction

    Sustained availability of energy at affordable cost is an essential prerequisite for the growth of a country. Currently the energy consumption per capita in case of Nepal is134 KWH per capita per year, as against world average of 2674 KWH per capita per year.

    GDP Per Capita in $ (PPP)

    Country Energy Consumption in kWh per capita per year GDP Per Capita in $ (PPP) GDP Per Capita in $ (Nominal)
    World Average 2674 11673 11673
    Bhutan 2779 3392 3392
    India 1122 1980 1980
    Maldives 1122 9802 9802
    Pakistan 471 539 539
    Sri Lanka 414 4135 4135
    Bangladesh 351 1564 1564
    Myanmar 193 1256 1256
    Afghanistan 141 538 538
    Nepal 134 900 900

    Table-1: Energy Consumption Vs Gross Domestic Product
    Source:  1.GDP figures for 2017 vide https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-per-capita
         2.World Fact Book: Power consumption for various countries of the World.

    Although correlation between energy consumption and the prosperity depends on a number of factors like population but a fact which clearly overshadows others is that as energy consumption increases the prosperity increases. This relationship is equally valid for reverse relationship, i.e. as prosperity increases the necessity for additional energy becomes obligatory. Another interesting observation can be made based on the content of this table. Bhutan is a land locked country which has hardly any major industry in that country, yet their GDP per capita is more than India’s. An examination suggests that Bhutan has adequate hydro resources and hydroelectricity generated exploiting her indigenous resources is far more than her requirement. This surplus generation is sold by Bhutan to India. Revenue thus earned has transformed the country from a poor developing country to a prosperous country quite distinct from other South Asian countries. For the record Bhutan’s revenue from hydro power is 27% of the entire govt revenue and is 14% of Bhutan’s GDP. This also flags an approach which can also help other South Asian countries to improve their economic strength by exploiting their indigenous resources. Another country of South Asia; Nepal can benefit from the model which Bhutan is currently following for sharing its energy resources with India in a ‘win-win’ situation.

    Topography of Nepal

    topography-of-nepal

    Map1: Nepal and its Rivers and Physical features
    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Nepal 

    A report of International Hydropower Association, “Bhutan” uploaded on https://www.hydropower.org/country-profile/bhutanography_of_Nepal 

    • Lie of the country is such that all the rivers flow from Nepal to India.
    • High Himalayas separate Nepal from Tibet, whereas southern side of the country is having  a terrain which is plain and that separates Nepal from India therefore while Northern Areas of Nepal act as a barrier between Nepal and Tibet, plains in southern side of the country lends itself for cooperation between India and Nepal. Recent operationalization of an oil pipeline from Motihari in Bihar to Amlekhganj in Nepal is a manifestation of such a cooperation (Little more about it a little later.)
    • Nepal has a huge hydropower potential. In fact, the perennial nature of Nepali rivers and the steep gradient of the country’s topography provide ideal conditions for the development of some of the world’s largest hydroelectric projects in Nepal. Current estimates are that Nepal has approximately 43,000 MW of economically feasible hydropower potential. However, the present situation is that Nepal has developed only approximately 753 MW of hydropower. Therefore, bulk of the economically feasible generation has not been realized yet. Besides, the multi-purpose secondary and tertiary benefits have not been realised from the development of its rivers. Nepal is utilising only 2% of it (i.e., 98% remains unutilised). It may be noted that an optimum exploitation of the hydro resources will contribute substantially to the financial well-being of Nepal. However, it is also a fact that Nepal neither has the financial muscle nor technical knowhow to harness its hydro resources. Therefore, support from friendly foreign countries becomes essential. China has been trying to make inroads into Nepal but whether it can be cost-effective or not is something that needs to be examined in carefully. India, on the contrary, has everything in her favour to support hydro power exploitation by Nepal. In fact power generated in Nepal can also be shared with Bangladesh using Indian grid system, which will be an excellent example of Nepal-India-Bangladesh cooperation, and still better as a BBIN (Bhutan-Bangladesh- India-Nepal) initiative and will be a ‘Win Win’ situation for all three countries.  India will have to use all its traditional heft with Nepal, its diplomatic skills, financial support to beat China who is trying hard to gain a foothold in Nepal’s Hydro energy exploitation domain as they are desperately wanting power.

    Map-3: River Systems of Nepal
    Source: Firoz Alam et al, “A review of hydropower projects in Nepal1st International Conference on Energy and Power”, presented during ICEP2016 at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, 14-16 December 2016 and Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Energy Procedia 110 (2017) 581 – 585

    • While planning hydro power plants in Nepal, some extra care would be required to be undertaken. Nepal’s topography is unstable due to seismic activities. Hence, all hydropower plants with dam must be well planned and designed to mitigate the environmental impact. Also most Himalayan Rivers contain huge quantities of sediment with hard abrasive particles. The region’s climate and tectonic conditions as well as human activities are highly conducive for erosion and sedimentation. Therefore, sediment management is paramount for the safety, reliability and longer life of infrastructures (hydropower dam, equipment, roads, bridges, irrigation systems and drinking water).

    As close neighbours, India and Nepal share unique ties of friendship and cooperation characterised by an open border and deep-rooted people-to-people contacts of kinship and culture. There has been a long tradition of free movement of people across the border. Nepal shares a border of over 1850 km with five Indian states – Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations that exist between India and Nepal. Nepalese citizens avail facilities and opportunities at par with Indian citizens in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty. Nearly 6 million Nepalese citizens live and work in India. However Nepal is still not well developed and as has been explained earlier suffer from lack adequate energy to fuel its development. India has been a major partner in exploiting its indigenous energy resources and also making up the shortfall on this account.

    Potential and Scope of Hydro Power Cooperation

    Certain studies have been done to ascertain scope for the Indo-Nepal Cooperation in the domain of energy. It has been concluded that in the high build scenario, Nepal’s hydropower capacity is estimated to be 4551 MW. The generation cost in an arrangement of Indo-Nepal combined system would fall by approximately US $106 billion per year. This enhanced capacity will help Nepal to increase her power export to India by 60%. However Nepal’s high build out hydro resources would be fully utilised if operations between Nepal and India are further coordinated and an economic union strategy adopted by the two countries. Effectively, this would mean that trade with Nepal is institutionally is same as trade is between Indian States. Such enhanced power generation will help Nepal to become net exporter of power during dry as well as wet season, with reduced generation cost. On the contrary India ranks 81st in overall energy self-sufficiency at 66% in 2014 . Primary energy consumption in India grew by 7.9% in 2018 and it happens to be the third biggest consumer after China and USA, with 5.8% global share.

    Details of Completed Projects for Energy Cooperation between India and Nepal

    Motihari-Amlekhgunj Oil Pipeline: On 10th September 2019, the Prime Ministers of Nepal and India jointly inaugurated a cross-border oil pipeline through video conferencing. This line will transport fuel to the landlocked country. The aim of this pipe line is to cement India-Nepal ties in the face of major inroads made by China into the Himalayan nation, and seeks to repair the trust deficit between the two countries due to an economic blockade allegedly imposed by India in 2015 to persuade Nepal to change some provisions in its new constitution. Basically the protests at that time were done by people of Madhesh (region bordering India) as they felt that there were certain provisions of the constitution of Nepal which were discriminatory against them. India said at that time that the trucks laden with fuel and medicines, besides other essentials, were stopped by sections of Nepalese population (Madheshis) unhappy with some provisions of their constitution, which they felt were practically disenfranchising them. Nepal, however, viewed it as if India was blocking the supplies to compel Kathmandu to amend the provisions of the constitution that was seen as disenfranchising almost half of the Nepalese population. Therefore, the current initiative seeks to rebuild the confidence between the two countries and will help to bind Nepal closer to New Delhi, economically and strategically. The development comes against the backdrop of recent plans for a rail link between Nepal and China cutting through the Himalayas. There were also plans to link Nepal and China through an energy pipeline running through the Himalayas. Both were seen as means by Nepal to find an alternative to its dependency on India. The 69 km pipeline will transport fuel from the Barauni refinery in Bihar to Amlekhgunj in south-east Nepal and is the first cross-border petroleum products pipeline in South Asia. The Motihari-Amlekhgunj oil pipeline project was first proposed in 1996. The project was put back on the agenda during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kathmandu in 2014. The two governments had signed an agreement to execute the project in August 2015. Construction had begun in April 2018. Construction of the pipeline was undertaken by the Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOCL), India’s largest refiner, with an investment of over ₹324 crore, in collaboration with Nepal Oil Corp. Ltd (NOCL). The two sides are also working on building additional storage facility at the Amlekhgunj Depot, wherein NOCL has committed an estimated ₹75 crore. The pipeline can carry up to 2 million metric tonnes of petroleum products each year. Currently, petroleum products are carried from India to Nepal using oil tankers as part of an arrangement which has been in place since 1973. The NOCL not only hopes to save ₹200 crore annually with the new pipeline but will also ensure the transportation is no longer vulnerable to any kind of blockade.

    Power Supply from India to Nepal: India and Nepal have a Power Exchange Agreement since 1971 for meeting the power requirements in the border areas of the two countries, taking advantage of each other’s transmission infrastructure. There are more than twenty 132 kV, 33 kV and 11 kV transmission interconnections which are used both for power exchange in the border areas and for power trade. For enhanced transmission of electricity, the first high-capacity Muzaffarpur (India) – Dhalkebar (Nepal) cross-border power transmission line (initially charged at 132 kV), with GoI Letter of credit (LoC) funding of US$ 13.2 million, was completed in 2016. Two additional 132 kV cross-border transmission lines between Kataiya (India) – Kusaha (Nepal) and Raxaul (India) – Parwanipur (Nepal), built with GoI grant assistance, were completed in 2017. India is currently supplying a total of about 450 MW of power to Nepal. An Agreement on ‘Electric Power Trade, Cross-border Transmission Interconnection and Grid Connectivity’ between India and Nepal was signed on 21 October 2014. The Agreement is aimed at facilitating and further strengthening cross-border electricity transmission, grid connectivity and power trade between Nepal and India. The Agreement provides a framework for power trade between the two countries, import by Nepal from India until it becomes power surplus and subsequent import by Indian entities from Nepal, on mutually acceptable terms and conditions. Two mechanisms, Joint Working Group (JWG) and Joint Steering Committee (JSC) envisaged under the Agreement have been established. Joint Technical Team (JTT) was formed for preparation of a long-term integrated transmission plan covering projects up to 2035.

    Cooperation in the Domain of Hydro Energy: Cooperation in water resources primarily concerning the common rivers is one of the most important areas of bilateral relations. A large number of small and large rivers flow from Nepal into India and constitute an important part of the Ganges River basins (Refer Map-3 above). These rivers have the potential to become major sources of irrigation and power for Nepal and India. A three-tier bilateral mechanism was established in 2008, to discuss issues relating to cooperation in water resources, flood management, inundation and hydropower between the two countries. A Development Authority was set up in September 2014 to carry out the Pancheshwar Multipurpose project. A Power Development Agreement (PDA) for the 900 MW Arun-III hydroelectric project between India’s Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited and the Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) was concluded in November 2014. Also, a PDA for the 900 MW Upper Karnali hydroelectric project was concluded between IBN and M/s GMR in September 2014.

    Projects under Planning/Execution

    Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project: India and Nepal had signed a Treaty known as Mahakali Treaty in February’1996. Implementation of Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project is the centerpiece of the Mahakali Treaty. Required field investigations for the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project have been completed by a Joint Project Office (JPO-PI) in 2002 (except for some confirmatory tests). But mutually acceptable DPR of Pancheshwar Project is yet to be finalised. The constitution of Pancheswar Development Authority has already been notified. Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project (PMP) is a bilateral project, primarily aimed at energy production and augmenting irrigation in India and Nepal. A Treaty known as “Mahakali Treaty” concerning the integrated development of the Mahakali River, which included Sarada barrage, Tanakpur barrage and Pancheshwar Dam Project, was signed between the Government of Nepal and the Government of India on February 12, 1996. During the year 2009, pursuant to the Article-10 of the Mahakali Treaty, the Government of India and the Government of Nepal agreed and framed draft ToR for setting up the Pancheshwar Development Authority, as an independent autonomous body, for development, execution and operation of the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project. To accomplish this shared goal, the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the PDA as agreed upon by the two Governments and as may be amended from time to time, were created. As per the Statute of PDA the administrative organs of the authority are the Governing Body (GB) and the Executive Committee (EC). In order to execute the specific tasks assigned to the Governing Body, five meetings of GB have taken place so far. Pancheshwar Main Dam is proposed on River Mahakali (known as River Sarada in India), where the river forms the international boundary between the Far Western Development Region of Nepal and State of Uttarakhand in India. The dam site is around 2.5 km downstream of the confluence of River Sarju with River Mahakali. The project would comprise of a rock-fill dam with central clay core of 311m height from the deepest foundation level. Two underground power houses at Pancheshwar dam, one on each bank of Mahakali River, each with a capacity of (6×400 MW) with the total installed capacity of nearly 4800 MW are proposed to be constructed. The power plant at main dam will be operated as the peaking station to meet energy demand in India and Nepal. A re-regulating dam at Rupaligad is proposed around 27 km downstream of the main dam to even out peaking flows released from Pancheshwar power houses for meeting downstream irrigation water requirement. Here, two underground powerhouses on both sides of river with total installed capacity of 240 MW (2 x 60 MW on either bank) are envisaged. The main dam (when impounded with water up to Flood Regulating Level (FRL)) will form a reservoir of around 11,600 hectare area with a gross storage volume of about 11,355 million cubic metres. The submergence area on Indian side is 7,600 hectare, covering districts namely Pithoragarh, Almora and Champawat in the state of Uttarakhand whereas remaining 4000 hectares of submergence will be in Nepal. The project aims at producing hydro power and enhance the food grains production in both the countries by providing additional irrigation resulting from the augmentation of dry season flows. Year round irrigation will be possible in agricultural land in Kanchanpur district in Nepal due to enhancement in flows during non-monsoon months. The project will generate Two underground power houses at Pancheshwar dam, one on each bank of Mahakali River, each with a capacity of (6×400 MW) with the total installed capacity of nearly 4800 MW are proposed to be constructed. The power plant at main dam will be operated as the peaking station to meet energy demand in India and Nepal. Power generated will be shared equally between both the nations as per Treaty. Irrigation benefits in form of annual irrigation will be about 0.43 Mha, out of this, annual irrigation in Nepal would be 0.17 Mha and remaining 0.26 Mha in India. In addition, due to moderation of flood peak at reservoir(s), incidental flood control benefits for both the countries are also envisaged from the project. Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project is one of the top priority projects to be implemented in phased manner to reap the benefits of the project as early as possible. The work of preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) was entrusted to Water and Power Consultancy Services Limited (WAPCOS) by PDA and WAPCOS have in turn submitted the draft final DPR of the project to PDA in November, 2016. At present the finalization of Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the project is underway. A Team of Experts/Officials has been formed by both the countries for discussing and resolving all issues towards finalization of the DPR. After finalization of DPR, the Pancheshwar Development Authority shall undertake the execution, operation and maintenance of the project, including the work of re-regulating dam at Rupaligad site in an integrated manner.

    Sapta-Kosi High Dam Project and SUN Kosi storage cum diversion scheme: After exchange of letter of Understanding between the two Governments in June’ 2004, a Joint Project Office (JPO) was set up in August’ 2004 to undertake detailed field investigations for preparation of DPR of SaptaKosi High Dam Project at Barakshetra in Nepal.  DPR is under progress.

    Kamla and Bagmati Multipurpose Projects The JPO-SKSKI has also been entrusted to undertake the feasibility study of Kamla Dam and preliminary study of Bagmati Dam Projects. These studies are in progress.

    Project Completion Prospects

    Hydro power projects have a long gestation period and therefore, it can safely be assumed that the export from Nepal of power will not be able to commence before 2025. Nepal will be able to export 18 billion kWh in 2025 which will go up to 93 billion kWh by 2035 and then will start flattening and by 2040 it would be 115 trillion Watt hour because by that time it is anticipated that because of the growing prosperity domestic consumption will also pick up. In rainy season when the reservoirs will be at their peak capacity, it is estimated that by 2030 13 GW would be available for export.

    Conclusion

    Notwithstanding the political division within South Asia, it is important to appreciate that the energy resources are monolithic in nature. Due to topography of the country most of the hydropower resources are concentrated in the Himalayas; spanning Nepal, Bhutan and Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Hydro power is a form of green energy and it would be ideal in case a mechanism can be evolved to exploit it for common good. It is essential that India, in conjunction with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, needs to make attempts to make use of energy resources available in all these countries; hydro power is one such resource. In this connection the platform of BBIN (Bhutan-Bangladesh-India-Bhutan-IndiaNepal) needs to be exploited. In fact recent pipeline laid by India between Motihari in Bihar and Amlekhgunj in Nepal is great example of cooperation that benefits the region and the parties involved.