Kathmandu: The ongoing construction of the 40-megawatt Rahughat hydropower project faces a setback following a court order prohibiting the extraction of river materials from the Kaligandaki river. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) reports that the court's decision contradicts the project's approved environmental impact assessment report, which initially sanctioned the extraction of river materials from designated areas. Consequently, the project is at risk of closure.

The order, issued on July 13, 2021, by a single bench of the then Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana, restricts activities such as constructing a reservoir, diverting natural river flow, polluting, and extracting river materials, including Shaligram (holy stones). The court emphasized the river's significance from religious, historical, and environmental perspectives.

In response to the court order, a high-level team comprising Minister for Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation Shakti Bahadur Basnet, NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising, and Deputy Executive Director Pradip Kumar Thike visited the project site on Saturday for monitoring purposes. The project management and the contractor company informed the team that construction progress had been hampered due to the ban on quarrying river-based construction materials following the Supreme Court's interim order.

Minister Basnet assured that initiatives would be taken to address the issue, emphasizing the satisfactory progress of the project's construction. He directed the project management to complete the construction within the stipulated time, assuring coordination and facilitation at the highest level.

The contractor company committed to completing the project within the next 15 months if the shortage of river-based construction materials, such as stones, pebbles, and sand, is resolved. The project's overall physical progress currently stands at 65 percent, with ongoing construction of structures including the reservoir, main tunnel, powerhouse, and civil structures, along with equipment installation. The completion of 5.6 kilometers of the total six-kilometer main tunnel has already been achieved.