kathmandu:
Nepal on Sunday decided to allow India’s Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Limited to develop a second hydropower project in the country.
At present, SJVN is developing a 900 MW Arun-III hydroelectric project, a river stream located on the Arun River in Eastern Nepal, which is expected to be completed by 2024.
A meeting of the Investment Board Nepal (IBN), chaired by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda”, approved the draft Project Development Agreement (PDA) to be signed with Indian state-owned company SJVN for the development of the 669 megawatt (MW) Lower Arun Hydropower project in eastern Nepal, an official statement said.
The development comes days before Prime Minister Prachanda’s visit to India that begins on Wednesday.
The draft must be approved by the Council of Ministers before implementation.
The previous meeting of the IBN had approved an investment of Rs 92.68 billion for the development of the project.
“The development of this transformative 669 MW project will prove to be a milestone for the socio-economic development of the country,” said the IBN statement.
The SJVN has established a local company, Lower Arun Power Development Company, in Nepal.
The Lower Arun project in Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur districts will not have a reservoir or dam and will be an offshoot of Arun-III, meaning water will come back into the river for the Lower Arun project.
This is the third project completed, all through negotiation windows, on the River Arun following the 900 MW Arun-III and 695 MW Arun-IV hydropower projects.
The three projects will generate nearly 2,300 MW of electricity from the river in Sankhuwasabha district, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)