Kathmandu, September 25
The multi-billion dollar Budhi Gandaki hydropower project was re-awarded to China’s Gezhouba Group out of compulsion, says Energy Minister Barsa Man Pun.
Minister Pun, who was addressing a meeting of Parliament’s Agriculture, Co-operatives and Natural Resources, said that there was no option but to call in the Chinese firm as Nepal did not have the capacity to develop such a mega project.
“The project’s returns are not lucrative and that is why we cannot use public money to build the project,” said Minister Pun. “The money we collected by taxing petrol consumption is not enough to provide compensation to families living in project-affected areas,” added the minister.
The minister, however, said that the Chinese company that holds the permit to build West Seti hydel will not go ahead with construction.
