Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project (PMP) & Poornagiri Re-regulating Dam (Indo Nepal)

In compliance of the Treaty provisions mentioned above, the scope of Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project [17] (PMP) is being actively discussed and defined by Nepal and India to enable finalisation of the Detailed Project Report. The proposed project, which straddles the border that lies along the median point of the river, envisages a 293 m high rock fill dam (to be the largest rock fill dam in the world), just downstream of the confluence of the Mahakali and Sarju river, having a live storage capacity of 9.24 BCM and a dead storage capacity of 2.15 BCM. In the project area, the river forms the border between India and Nepal, dividing the Far Western Development Region of Nepal from the Uttar Pradesh State in India. The PMP also envisages a re-regulating dam for which two alternatives at Poornagiri (1020 MW) and Rupaligad (500 MW) have been considered, to hold the waters passing through the turbines and provide regulated back season release to irrigate designated commands in Nepal and India. Two power stations are projected, one on either bank, with an overall installed peaking capacity, between 5,500 and 6,480 MW at 20 per cent load factor. As per the Treaty principles both sides are committed to design and operate the project as a single, integrated scheme to yield, the maximum total net benefits accruing to them. The power benefit is to be assessed on the basis of saving in costs as compared with the relevant alternatives available. As per the Treaty equal entitlement in the utilization of the waters of the Mahakali River without prejudice to their respective existing consumptive uses is also planned to be ensured from the PMP.