Kathmandu, March 13 -- The Kulekhani-3 Hydropower Project is finally nearing completion 11 years after construction started. Time overruns due to slowpoke contractors resulted in the 14 MW scheme missing half a dozen completion deadlines.

The plant being developed by the Nepal Electricity Authority has now entered the testing phase, and the project office is starting with a test of the civil structure which is already complete. Jheijian Jialin Company, the Chinese company contracted to implement the electro- mechanical and hydro-mechanical works, is yet to complete its task.

"We completed an inspection of the civil structure which includes the hydraulic gates and the tunnel," said Subash Mishra, project chief of Kulekhani-3. "Now we wil...