Karnali (Chisapani) in Retrospect

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Is the Karnali Project feasible? Does Nepal need it? The answer to the first question does not necessarily lead to the second.

More than a year has passed since the Feasibility Study of the Karnali (Chisapani) Multi-purpose Project was completed by Himalayan Power Consultants (HPC) for Nepal. HPC was a joint venture of Acres International, Shawinigan, and SNC (all of Canada), and EBASCO engineering company of the United States. Since the completion of the feasibility study, Nepal has been occupied with more weighty issues than confronting the advice of the study. However, the day will come when Nepal and India will approach the issues surrounding the development of the multi-purpose potential of the Karnali River. Now that good technical work has been completed, it is approriate that some thought be given to aspects of development that are not easily quantified in a feasibility study.

The decision to study the feasibility of harnessing the river in the Chisapani Gorge was made about thirty years ago. Once set in motion, feasibility studies tend to crank out numbers to prove the desirability of the project in question. Sometimes the cart comes before the horse, and from the outset we stop questioning whether the development is a correct line of investigation.

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