Sunkosh project scrapped

After spending millions on studies and initial project works, the Bhutan government has decided to do away with its largest hydroelectricity project – the 2,560-megawatt Sunkosh Hydropower Project.

Many villages in Lhamoidzingkha Drungkhag in Dagana, including Samarchu, Piping and Doban, were affected when the government restricted the construction of roads, bridges and the plantation of cash crops.

The government decision has come following repeated delays in the completion of two other projects Punatshangchu I and II, whose costs have increased three-fold.

The government on July 8 inaugurated the construction of three small hydropower projects, one each in Lhuentse, Zhemgang and Haa, with a combined generation capacity of 104 megawatts (MW). 

The Sunkosh project was estimated to cost about Nu 200B. Even though it was been identified as an intergovernmental project like Punatshangchu I and II, the governments of Bhutan and India had not agreed on the modality of its implementation.