Sunkoshi Marin Diversion
It has been studied that the Sunkoshi River has the lowest flow in the month of March, and in the month of March, 85.8 cubic meters of water flows in the Sunkoshi River. Out of that, we regularly release a constant flow of 7 cubic meters into the Marin River through our tunnel.
22 million hectares of land in the Terai district will be irrigated and about 31 megawatts of electricity will be generated. This detour's construction, which began in 20756, is expected to be finished by 2085/8 6. This is our Gold Coast Diversification Multipurpose Project, so the title says multipurpose. In this, we are not only dealing with irrigation, but also with other works including hydropower.
We aim to do all the work including river training, hydropower, and electro-mechanical civil engineering. In front of us is the Sunkoshi River. The goal is to divert the Sunkoshi River in particular and merge it with the Marin River in Ward No. 2 of Kamalwai Municipality through this tunnel, and this tunnel is approximately 13,356 meters long.
And its work is almost complete. This has been completed by the overseas company Kovec and is currently in the final stages of construction. And from this, after we reach the Marin River through the tunnel, approximately 31.077 megawatts of electricity will be generated there and then taken to the Bagmati River about 42 kilometers down the strip and mixed with it.
From there, our goal is to irrigate about 1.22 million hectares of land in five districts of the Terai. Our main goal is to irrigate a total of 1.22 million hectares of land in the five districts of Province 2 in the Tarai, namely Rautat, Sarlahi, Bara, Mautari, and Dhanusa, through the existing 45,600 hectares of land under the Bagmati Irrigation Project and the new 76,400 hectares.
The master plan for this project was approved in 2076 and the goal was to complete it in 85/86 after 10 years and we started it in Asoj 2079. The tunnel's construction began on the 26th Baisakh 2081, when its breakthrough was made. It was supposed to be finished by the 32nd Shravan 82, but it was finished in about 19 months. Right now, it is almost in the complete phase, and we still have the work of building the dam ahead of us. The construction work is also approximately 50 percent complete. It's not like we haven't seen much progress in that, but there has been progress of about 10 percent so far.
Overall, the physical progress of the project is around 36 percent. So far, it is said to be the second mine after Bheri Bhave, which was excavated using a double-shield TV machine. The tunnel you are seeing is a 5-meter-diameter tunnel. This is the one that started from the Marin River on the other side and broke through here. It was dug from there and you can see the blocks, the concrete blocks. These are precast blocks.
About a thousand and a half blocks were placed in a line, precasted like that, and then connected by the TBM machine itself. This was completed. The project as a whole is worth 49 billion dollars, while ours is broken up into five or six parts. For example, the construction of a dam cost about 14 billion. Then the tunnel construction is about 11 billion.
Now, the estimate for electromechanical has been approved. We have not started work on it and have not gone through the contracting process. Then there are other river training tasks. And there are other social development issues that are still pending. Those works are also technical, mainly before this, but in the tunnel, especially in Bheri Babai, a little before this, since the work was done a little earlier, and the issues in it were solved a little, it became a little easier to do it. On the other hand, the social issues were mainly
land issues, and since the compensation works are almost complete, there are not so many of them now. Global Aimee Bank, Bank for All, Thank you You can see the other side, this is the area where our barrage will be built. We are about to build a barrage in this. Currently, a portion of our barrage is placed in the area where this water falls.
It is said that there is a barrage with six gates, about 158 meters long, and the barrage is made up of a 158-meter-long barrage that extends from the inside of the barrage to this point. After the barrage is completed, two drainage and underflow portions will also be built. Two gates will be placed in the underflow portion and through that we will reach the intake and this area will come and through the intake we will discharge the water into the descending basin and from the descending basin we will collect the sand and the
waste and then discharge it back into the Sunkoshi River and we will connect the clear water from the descending basin to the power culvert and connect it to the previous tunnel. And that power culvert is about 131 meters long, but as you said, the 131-meter long power culvert is still to be added. And this outer part, we call it the Cuffner Dam, is a temporary structure.
To prevent water from going there, in the first portion, we use the water that is used on one side, then divert the water to the other side, and then create a dam on the other side, and do it again. It has been studied that the Sunkoshi River has the lowest flow in the month of March, and in March, 85.8 cubic meters of water flows in the Sunkoshi River.
Of that, we regularly discharge a constant flow of 67 cubic meters into the Marin River through our tunnel. And 7 cubic meters and 85.8 cubic meters means that about 22 percent of it is in the five-month period. Even when there is a minimum flow, about 22 percent of the water flows into the Sunkoshi River. We have learned a lot from the flood of last year.
Since it caused so much damage, we have repeatedly asked the construction company to do more to protect it. We have also asked them to do it before the monsoon. As you can see, the construction of 13.33 kilometers of tunnel has been completed, but its water test is still pending.
