Fast-track programme to light up Rukum

THIRA L. BHUSAL

KATHMANDU, Nov 11

The government is all set to implement a programme to bring electricity within a year to all households in Rukum district, the one-time hotbed of the Maoist insurgency, primarily through micro/mini hydropower projects and solar power.

After translating the idea of 'ujyalo [lighted up] Rukum' into practice, the same model will

be applied to many other districts across the county, officials said.

Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) under the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MoEST) has prepared a Special Micro/Mini Hydro Development Programme in Rukum district to translate the government plan into action.

Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, in this year's budget, announced a special programme with a view to provide electricity to every household in the district. He had also proposed to mark the current fiscal year as the "Year of Alternative Energy".

The proportion of households having electricity in the district was 7.7 percent as of 2004, ranking Rukum 62nd among the 75 districts in the country. The total number of households in the district is 33,000 and the total population slightly more than 203,332 as of the then projection for 2005.

The government is going to kick-off the programme at a two-day function at November-end at the district headquarters. Ministers, political leaders, top officials, consultants, experts and local stakeholders will attend the function.

AEPC, an executive agency at the central level, will work in close coordination with the district development committee.

Energy Sector Assistance Program (ESAP) under AEPC has identified about 50 potential micro hydro projects in Rukum. The programme can be implemented immediately at 30 of the identified sites, according to Bharat Raj Poudel, monitoring officer at AEPC. Technical teams will explore the possibility of additional such projects within a month. The majority of the projects will be completed by June, 2009 and the rest by the end of 2009, Poudel said.

The government will provide electricity to some households through the solar power if the houses are isolated.

As the programme to be executed in Rukum is a test case, the projects in the district will be completed on a fast track system, said Dr. Govind Raj Pokharel, executive director of AEPC.

The hydro projects under the programme will produce up to 500 KW power. More than 70 percent of the projects will generate from 5 to 70 KW each, according to Poudel. The average cost of producing 1 KW of electricity from a micro hydro project is estimated to be about Rs. 250,000 and this power can be distributed to 10 households, bringing the average cost for each household to around Rs. 25,000.

Each household will get Rs. 10,000 as financial support from the government with the possibility of this being increased to Rs. 15,000 in the near future. Locals will make contributions worth Rs. 5,000 each through volunteer work. "The consumers can arrange the remaining Rs. 5,000 through the budgets of their district development committees, VDCs, or on their own," Poudel elaborated.

The programme also has a component for popularising the use of improved stoves and biogas plants so that the electric lights will be more bright in a smokeless environment.

THE KATHMANDU POST