CORPORATE

NHPC to build hydropower plant in Nepal after Chinese company backs off

Nepal signed a pact with NHPC to develop a hydroelectric plant in the west of the nation years after a Chinese firm backed out, officials said on Thursday. 

Nepal has opened its rivers, which it sees as having a combined potential to generate more than 42,000 mw of hydroelectric power, to foreign players to develop its economy and export electricity to narrow the trade deficit of more than $13 billion. 

Officials said that NHPC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday, allowing it to study details, like feasibility, environmental impact, inundation of land and construction costs for two projects – West Seti (750 mw) and SR 6 (450 mw).

Both plants are to be located on the West Seti River in Nepal’s least-developed far-western region. 

China’s biggest hydropower developer, Three Gorges International Corp, was previously lined up to develop the West Seti plant, but Nepal scrapped the deal in 2017 amid haggling over the terms, officials said. 

“After decades of delays, we would not have plunged into another uncertainty,” Chief Executive Officer of the State-run Investment Board Nepal Sushil Bhatta told the Reuters. 

India is already constructing a 900-mw hydropower project on the Arun River in east Nepal at a cost $1.04 billion. China and India usually jostle for influence in Nepal.

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