The Bhutanese Leading the way.
In a major positive development, technical experts from Bhutan and India, in a meeting in Delhi on 31st July 2025, have come to an agreement on rectification measures for the right bank and the construction of the dam.
The 26 degree slope for the right bank, while doing rectification measures, has been agreed to as proposed by Bhutan, and Bhutan has agreed to the dam construction.
The Indian side had earlier proposed a 30 degree slope, but the Bhutanese proposal of 26 degrees was agreed to, and it will now result in more overburden being removed.
There were some technical discussions around this between experts on both sides which were agreed to in the latest meeting.
The next step is now to hold a Technical Coordination Committee (TCC) meeting, which will comprise of higher level technical experts from both sides.
The aim is to have the TCC meeting within this month, and then after that the Project Authority meeting which would give the final go ahead with the construction process.
If the above can be done by August or early September then the next four months could be used for tendering, and other preparatory works with actual rectification measures and dam construction starting in January 2026 and finishing by around early 2030 with a four year time line.
The TCC team will get into how much overburden is to be removed, the detailed measures and budget of the rectification works and also the technicalities of the dam construction.
After that, the final call will lie with the Project Authority.
Addressing concerns that the PI tariff rate might be too high, a source explained that it should remain reasonable, given that 40 percent of the project is funded through grant and only 60 percent through loan arrangement.
