December 1: The Upper Arun Hydropower Project has distributed a total of Rs 2.23 billion in compensation for the land acquired to develop the 1,063 megawatt project at Bhotkhola Rural Municipality in Sankhuwasabha district.    
Altogether 2,500 ropani of land was acquired from the locals for the project development.    
Senior assistant of the project, Grishna Bhandari, confirmed that so far Rs 2.23 billion has been distributed for the affected communities in the district. According to Bhandari, 298 households have received the amount in compensation out of 319 households.    
The project officials said that the local residents from ward number 2, 4 and 5 of Bhotkhola Rural Municipality and the residents of Chepuwa, Hatiya and Pawakhola would receive the compensation amount.    
The total cost of the project is estimated to be around Rs 226 billion and the project development is expected to commence by mid of 2024.    
Likewise, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has started the construction of access route for the project. Contract for the construction of 22 kilometres access road including 2 kms tunnel route has been given to Gayatri JV of India and Kankai Surunga JV Company of Jhapa. Motorable bridges would also be constructed over the Arun river and Chepuwa river along the access route. -- RSS