The Bhutanese Leading the way.
While both the Bhutanese and Indian sides agreed to build the dam on the 1,200 MW P I project, there was no agreement on the extent of rectification measures to be done on the sliding right bank of the project.
The Bhutanese side, focused on safety and longevity, wanted deeper and extensive rectification measures on the right bank, while the Indian side, worried about the escalating cost and its eventual impact on tariff rates, wanted less ambitious measures.
With this difference in outlook, both sides were unable to agree to past design proposals for rectification measures drawn up by Indian project consultants, like Central Water Commission and Central Electricity Authority.
However, both sides seem to have now hit some common ground, and a way forward.
It has been decided that Bhutanese engineers and geologists will sit with CWC and CEA and jointly discuss and jointly design the rectification measures on the right bank.
Once their joint design is done then it will be presented to the Technical Coordination Committee (TCC) comprised of senior technical officials of both countries, and once it is vetted and agreed to there then, the right bank plan will be presented to the PHPA Authority where it will be approved.
A source said that both sides, in principle, have agreed that more safety measures are needed. The aim is to get something rolling by the first quarter of 2025.
The above is possible as the discussions of the Joint Technical Team of the two countries on P I have narrowed the gap between the two sides. It is agreed that a large overburden on the right bank will need to be removed, to the extent that two rows of buildings in the PHPA colony will also be destroyed.
The aim is then to send concrete pylons deep into the right bank to pin it against hard rock and use cables to further strengthen the right bank. The aim is also to cover the entire right bank in an impervious concrete layer so that no water can go in.
A major concern is the ballooning debt and cost of P I, and this would result in very high tariff rates once completed. Here, one potential way out could be exemption on loan interest during the phases when construction could not happen due to the right bank. This would also bring down tariff rates.
