Nepal: Preparing for the big flood

By Om Astha Rai

The Bhote Kosi has been hit thrice by disasters in the last two years. The Jure landslide of August 2014 brought down a whole mountainside and blocked the river. A year later, the earthquakes struck. And last month, a landslide dam burst in Tibet, causing much destruction downstream in Nepal.

The 45 MW Bhote Kosi private power project was closed for six months after the Jure landslide because the transmission lines were swept away. It had just started generating electricity when the earthquake damaged the penstock pipe and caused the power house to subside. It was being repaired and was supposed to resume operation in September, but the 22 July flash flood damaged the intake and powerhouse.

The multiple disasters on the Bhote Kosi have been a wake-up call for other large infrastructure projects along Himalayan rivers, and mean that Nepal’s ambitious goal of generating 10,000 MW of electricity by 2026 may have to be re-evaluated.