The work stoppage at the Upper Tamakoshi Hydrop-ower Project is likely to be called off on Monday as locals have ended their protest while a talks committee has been formed to negotiate with agitating workers, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said.

Locals of Singati in particular had been campaigning for a greater stake in the project while the workers staged a walkout demanding shares for them too as locals and employees of the financing institutions had been given a piece of the project.

The construction work at the project has been at a complete standstill for the last 10 days due to the standoff.

Mukesh Raj Kafle, managing director of the NEA, said they expected work to resume at the project from Monday as Dolkha residents had withdrawn their demo and the project had formed a committee to talk with the workers. “Both the sides are committed to resolving the issue through dialogue,” Kafle added.

Work at the 456 MW national pride project had come to a halt after locals agitated for more shares. On Saturday, the project announced that no shares would be issued to locals as it needed to get the go-ahead from the Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) first. The project had planned to receive share applications from Sunday.

The project said that it had submitted a proposal to Sebon for a fresh approval in line with the decision made by the district-level political coordination committee in February to enlarge the share allotment for locals.

Upper Tamakoshi has already issued primary shares to the employees of the NEA, Citizen Investment Trust, Employees Provident Fund and its contributors.

With the agitating locals putting off their demo and clearing off the blockage at Singati bazaar, project vehicles have been going to the site from Sunday. The people had halted the movement of the project’s vehicles used to transport construction materials to press their demand. Vehicles carrying project employees too have started moving.

“We welcome the move to halt the issuance of shares to locals of Dolkha,” said Padam Raj Pathak, coordinator of the struggle committee from Singati, in a statement. He also said that the share issuance to the people of the project affected area needed to be implemented as per the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report.

As of Sunday evening, the agitating workers who had demanded 500 shares each had not agreed to return to work. Their leader Sonam Dorje Sherpa, however, said that they would give up their agitation and return to work if the authorities give them a written assurance.

While the Nepali workers at the project have stopped work, the Chinese workers said that they would be willing to resume work if the authorities provided security.

According to Ganesh Neupane, the spokesperson of the project, Chinese company Shino Hydro has stated that around 300 Chinese employees have been pressurizing them to resume the construction work at the earliest possible. The Chinese workers have not gone to work fearing a confrontation with the Nepali workers.

More than 70 percent of the overall construction work at the Upper Tamakoshi project has been completed so far. Around 82 percent of the civil works and 30 percent of the hydro mechanical works have been finished. The project is expected to be completed by July 2016.

Published on: 23 March 2015 | The Kathmandu Post