KATHMANDU: The 900 megawatt capacity Arun-III hydropower project under construction with Indian investment in Sankhuwasabha district has achieved a breakthrough of its main tunnel.

The developer SJVN Arun-III Power Development Company has informed that 74.09 percent of the project has been completed with the breakthrough on Tuesday.

This project is being developed with the investment of India's state-controlled SJVN Limited Company. The company said that the water brought from the dam in Makalu Rural Municipality, Ward No. 3 and 7 of Sankhuwasabha district through the 11.8 kilometer tunnel will be pumped into the power house in Chichila Rural Municipality, Ward No. 3, Pukuwa to generate electricity.

According to the company, the dam work is also progressing. The goal is to produce electricity by March 2025.

The project will be vital to implement the agreement between Nepal and India to export 10,000 megawatts of electricity to India in 10 years. The company is also building a transmission line to transfer electricity from the project site to the Dhalkewar substation, and is also building a Nepal-India international transmission line to export electricity to India.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who attended the breakthrough ceremony in Sankhuwasabha on Tuesday, expressed his belief that after the completion of this project, it will make a significant contribution to the country's electricity business.

Naveen Srivastava, India's ambassador to Nepal, said that this project is important for the implementation of the agreement between Nepal and India for the trade of 10,000 megawatts of electricity in the next 10 years. Stating that there are many possibilities for power generation in the Arun River, he emphasized that both countries should use this potential together.

Along with Arun-III, SJVN Limited has also received permission to build the lower Arun of 679 MW. SJVN has signed a memorandum of understanding to develop 490 MW Arun-IV as a joint venture with Nepal Electricity Authority.

Ambassador Srivastava said that India is ready to cooperate with the Government of Nepal for the development of other projects in the Arun River. Sushil Kumar Sharma, Managing Director of SJVN Arun-III Power Development Company, requested Prime Minister Dahal to assist in acquiring land for the construction of the Koshi Highway and the construction of transmission lines for the completion of the project on time.

The government of Nepal will get 21.9 percent (about 200 megawatts) of the electricity produced by this project, which is being built by the Indian company, for free, while the rest will be exported to India. The project will be handed over to Nepal 25 years after the start of electricity generation.

The foundation stone of the project was laid by the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi jointly from Kathmandu on May 11 , 2018