May 8: There has been a breakthrough in the tunnel of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multi-purpose Project.    

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal attended the 'breakthrough' ceremony at Kanadhungri of Sunkoshi rural municipality-7 on Wednesday. The Automatic Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) that had entered the tunnel from Kusumtar of Kamalamai municipality-2 for digging the tunnel exited the tunnel from the other side at Kanadhungri on the bank of the Sunkoshi river on Tuesday after PM Dahal pressed the TBM switch.    

The tunnel stretches from Kusumtar of Kamalamai municipality-2 to Kanadhungri of Sunkoshi-7. The tunnel has a diameter of 5.5 metres and it is 13.3 kilometres long.    

Project Chief Mitra Baral said they have been successful to accomplish the breakthrough a year ahead of the target. The breakthrough of the tunnel has been achieved in 19 months since the start of digging of the tunnel. According to Baral, the tunnel was dug up to 72 metres on a single day.

The works of digging the tunnel had started on October 14, 2022. However, the works related to digging the tunnel were disrupted six times since then. The works were stalled as the TBM machine could not dig the tunnel further up due to the dry landslide and mudslide inside the tunnel. The goal is to complete the project by October 2027.

Under this project, the Sunkoshi River flowing through the border of Sindhuli and Ramechhap districts in Kandhungi will be diverted to Marin Khola.

About 67 cusecs of water from Sunkoshi will be pumped into the Marin River at Kusumtar, Kamalamai Municipality-2 of Sindhuli through a tunnel. The water will be used to irrigate about 122,000 hectares of land in Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, and Bara. Likewise, the project will also generate 31.07 megawatts of electricity.

The tunnel construction of the project was done by the China Overseas Engineering Group Company Limited (COVEC). According to the contractors, the construction of the dam and powerhouse will be completed within the stipulated time even if there is some delay. A joint venture of Indian company Patel Engineering and Nepal's Raman Group has been entrusted with the construction of the dam.

After the completion of the project, irrigation facilities will be available throughout the year in the five districts of Mid-Terai, which are considered as the major grain producing areas. It will bring a qualitative change in food production.

According to the project, the total cost of the project is Rs 49.42 billion.