Kathmandu, March 11
During Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s upcoming visit to China, Nepal will try to ink a deal with the northern neighbour for construction of the much-talked 750-MW West Seti hydropower project with joint investment.
The Chinese company, Three Gorges International, is tasked with developing the project. Investment Board Nepal has approved the Chinese company to bring in foreign investment for the ambitious project.
“The board is doing homework, hoping that an agreement on joint investment for the project will materialise during the PM’s China visit,” IBN CEO Radhesh Pant told Onlinekhabar. He said the Chinese company has already started a field study for the project.
A preliminary estimate has put the project construction cost at Rs 1.5 trillion. The Chinese company will have to invest 75 per cent, while Nepal government will have to invest the rest.
Then government had handed over the task of project construction to an Australian company called SMEC. About four years ago, however, then government cancelled the licence given to the firm citing its failure to develop the project. The government had renewed SMEC’s licence 10 times so as to enable it to bring in investment for the project. After the Australian firm’s failure to attract investment, the government entrusted the Chinese company with the construction of the power project.
Established in 1993, Three Gorges is a Chinese government-owned company. It has already built the 22,000-MW Three Gorges power project in China. By 2020, the company aims to generate 70,000 MW worldwide.
