Nepal has signed a power trade agreement last week with a South Korean state-owned company to develop a 216 megawatt hydroelectric project, in a move that could help tackle the energy-starved country‘s growing energy needs.
Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, a joint secretary of Nepal’s ministry of energy and Bo Seukyi, an official of Nepal Water and Energy Development Private Limited signed the agreement in a ceremony in Kathmandu last week.
The company will develop the hydro power plant on the Trishuli River northwest of Kathmandu under build, own, operate, transfer (BOOT) model and hand it over to Nepal after 35 years.
“After 35 years, which includes the period of construction and operation, they will hand it over to the government without any charge,” Ghimire said in a press statement. The project will have a five-year construction period.
The Upper Trishuli 1 hydropower project with an estimated cost of $590 million aims to generate an annual power output of 1,465 gigawatt hours.
The people affected by the project would be eligible for 10 percent of the company’s shares, according to the statement by the ministry.
The South Korean government-owned Korea South East Company owns 52 percent of the shares, two South Korean companies own a total of 26 percent share interest and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation holds a 12 percent stake, according to the statement.
A year ago, Nepal announced an ambitious goal to produce 10,000 megawatts (MW) of hydroelectricity in 10 years. Last month, it organized a two-day power summit in Kathmandu to attract foreign investors.
Nepal has potential to generate an estimated 83,000 MW of hydroelectricity, but its power output is only 885 MW, well below the demand of 1,400 MW.
Nepal’s neighbors, India and China have invested in the country’s fledging hydropower sector.
By Deepak Adhikari in Nepal
Anadolu Agency
enerji@aa.com.tr
