About
Project Vision
We imagine a future where water flows easily through pipes to the houses where it is used instead of over long hilly trails on the back of women and children
We imagine a future where regular water supply irrigates greener fields, leading to more prosperous and enhanced livelihoods
Project Details
The multi-use water system will touch households in the seven villages of Tangrang, Ranibang, Chautara, Hatihal, Sano Lapur, Bankim and Sachak located within Makwanpur district, Raksirang Gaunpalika, ward 5. Raksirang is approximately 113 kilometres Southwest of Kathmandu. It has no motorable road connectivity and lacks access to piped water supply, reliable electricity, good quality education and health services. The community in Raksirang comprises of majority ethnic Chepang people by Tamangs and Dalits. Ninety percent of the community live below the poverty line. Agriculture is the main source of income but with poor water supply and lack of access to markets, livelihood form agriculture has remained meagre. The Maoist insurgency severely affected, since many, including children, were recruited to fight. The community is slowly building back.
The water use project will be implemented in four clusters covering seven villages and serving approximately 107 households. The system will deliver approximately 130,000 litres water per day over a piped network spanning approximately 8 kilometres across the seven villages.
Ranibang - Tangrang and Bankim will have a solar water lifting systems delivering 100,000 litres of water per day with lift of approximately 340 meters and 115 meters respectively. These systems will be operated by pumps with solar modules of 25 kW and 5 kW respectively. Sachak and Chautara will operate a gravity based water distribution system and serve approximately 30,000 litres of water per day
Each household be a specific volume of water per-day for drinking and agriculture. The daily ration will be controlled by smart meters installed at household level to control the flow of water. For agriculture, water supply will be integrated with drip irrigation and adoption of advanced agricultural methods.
Secrets to success - community engagement & private sector partnership
The key element for the future success of Raksirang are community engagement and private sector partnership Community engagements Early community engagement and participation is a key factor in making Raksirang project a success. Saral Urja worked with the local community extensively right from the pre-design stage, enabling community participation in all aspects of the decision making. The project is as much a story of community engagement as it about the solar micro-grid. The community is actively engaged in the day to day construction of the project and is a shareholder of Raksirang Urja Bikash company, the SPV owning, operating and managing the project. Private sector partnership Community ownership and empowerment are the critical aspects to a project’s success. Raksirang project will not be different The introduction of private sector participation was a key validation in this project, after successful implementation of the Dubung project. Communities often lack the technical, financial and managerial to develop and manage such systems in a sustainable manner. SUN, a private for-profit company, partnered with the community, co-investing in the project along with the Government and the community. It provides ongoing technical, managerial and financial backstopping.
Raksirang multi-use water use system is one of the first initiatives that a private company is co-investing in a micro rural infrastructure project in collaboration with the Government and community. The project is being supported though the collaboration between Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) and UN Economic Social Commission for Asia (UNESCAP) under pro-poor public private partnership (5P) program. The project is a public private partnership between the Government of Nepal, Saral Urja Nepal Private Limited (SUN) and the user-community of Raksirang. The project will be developed, owned and managed by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Raksirang Urja Bikash (RUB). RUB is a not for profit company incorporated under the laws of Nepal. RUB is composed of founding members drawn from the community and SUN. All users of the water projects are registered members of RUB.
Raksirang multi-use water system will be owned, operated and managed by Raksirang Urja Biskah (RUB).
RUB will establish operational processes involving local staff and with technical, managerial and financial back stopping from SUN.
There are three layers of operations.
- The first layer is day-to-day operation, which will be provided by two local staff members selected from the community and located at the project site. The day to day operations will be supported by a technical officer from SUN who will visit the site every month and regularly follow the developments.
- The second management layer consists of the working group which consists of community representatives from the water-users group, the local staff and the SUN technical officer. The working groups provides the overall steer on the project operations and management and coordinate with the community as required. This working group meets once a month at the site.
- The third management layer is the board of RUB. The board is the final decision maker of RUB, provides the overall management and direction and is the legal authority representing RUB. It meets bi-annually along with an annual general meeting.