KATHMANDU, JUL 12 -
The government is planning to develop the 22 MW Budhi Ganga hydropower project by creating a development committee.
Joint secretary of the Ministry of Energy (MoE) Anup Kumar Upadhyay said that the ministry had decided that the Budhi Ganga project would be developed by the government itself. “We will probably form a development committee under the ministry to build it,” he added.
According to the MoE, the government could give the responsibility of operating and maintaining the Budhi Ganga project to the NEA after its completion.
Upadhyay said that work on the project would start from the next fiscal year. A detailed engineering design and environmental impact assessment are expected to take about two years. “Construction of the project will take some four years,” said Upadhyay. “The project will come online by 2019.”
According to the feasibility study conducted by the NEA, it will cost around Rs 4.60 billion to develop the project while the project will generate 162 million units of energy annually.
The Kuwait Fund has agreed to provide Rs 1.55 billion to build the project while the Saudi Fund has pledged a soft loan worth Rs 1.70 billion, according to the Department of Electricity Development (DoED).
The government has to pay an interest of 2 percent per annum on both these loans. The Kuwait Fund had previously loaned money for the Kulekhani project. “The government will invest Rs 1.36 billion,” said Dilli Bahadur Singh, chief of the DoED. Budhi Ganga will be the first hydropower project the government will be undertaking in 28 years.
Source: http://www.ekantipur.com/2012/07/12/business/govt-rolls-up-sleeves-to-build-budhi-ganga-hydro/356996/
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