Birendranagar, Aug. 19 -- In April 2019, the Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project in western Nepal-an ambitious irrigation and hydroelectricity scheme-achieved what was then hailed as a historic milestone. Engineers dug a 12-km tunnel using a tunnel-boring machine, a first in Nepal, one year ahead of the original March 2020 deadline.

The achievement was celebrated widely, with the Chinese contractor China Overseas Engineering Group (COVEC), which had won the contract for the first phase, lauded for finishing the tunnel nearly a year before schedule. The feat raised expectations that the project would soon provide irrigation and electricity to thousands of households in western Nepal.

But optimism has since turned to frustration. M...