Govt to develop Upper Arun Hydel Project on ‘company model’

Kathmandu / Feb 4: The government has initiated efforts to develop Upper Arun Hydropower Project on ‘company model’ with the project registered with the Office of Company Registrar recently.

Following the company registration, the Ministry of Energy said the preparations are underway to forward the proposal to the Council of Ministers to advance other process in this regard.

Earlier, a Cabinet meeting had agreed in principle to allow the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to construct the project amidst the reports that efforts were afoot to award a contract to foreign promoter.

NEA Executive Director Kul Man Ghising informed that preparations were on to develop the project on a company model.

The 335 Megawatts project is so far considered to be the cheapest one with entire investment of the NEA.

Consultations have also taken place with the stakeholders to generate funds and seek advises and technical evaluation from various experts for the project, said a NEA official said. The project is estimated to cost Rs 53.40 billion. RSS