KATHMANDU: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated the much-awaited Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project last Monday and since then, the project is in operation under the test phase with irregular power production. Its full-fledged operation is far from sight yet.

PM Oli inaugurated the project while it had been generating 7 MW of electricity against 76 MW capacity from one of its units. One week later, the project is still under test phase and power production is not regular. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said it was solving problems encountered during the initial test phase.

According to an NEA source, the technical work of the transmission line brought from Tamakoshi to Khimti had not been completed till Friday. The project was shut down last Tuesday — a day after inauguration — to complete the remaining work on the 132-kV Gajryang-Khimti transmission line.

According to NEA Spokesperson Madan Timalsina, the electricity generated from the project reached the national transmission line but irregularly. “Work might be there to be done during the test,” he said.

He said the first unit was being tested for now and the project planned to start testing the second unit from Monday. The project has a total of six units of turbines, each of 76 MW capacity.