GMR to start construction work at Karnali within 9 months

Kathmandu, July 5: GMR Upper Karnali Hydropower Limited Wednesday said that the company would conclude the finance closure by September this year, and construction work would start within 6 to 9 months.

As the Rs. 145 billion project was unable to made the financial closure by the end of September last year, the Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) had extended the deadline by a year.

Chief operating officer of the company Harvinder Manocha said that the developer of the 900-megawatt Upper Karnali Hydropower Project had settled all the issues except forest clearance.

He was speaking at a workshop on ‘Nepal industrial benefits plan’, organised by the project for the local business people.

The workshop was designed to obtain baseline information on the supply of goods and services from the local business people to the project, and to provide project updates to the relevant stakeholders.

“The Project Development Agreement, which was signed between GMR India Limited and the Nepal government on September 19, 2014, requires the Nepal government and the company to jointly prepare the Nepal Industrial Benefits Plan in accordance with Schedule 17 (Nepal Industrial Benefits Plan Guidance Note),” said the IBN.

Saying that when an investor makes an investment, he looks at the government, IBN and the legal system of the country, Manocha said that the hydel project was expecting cooperation from the IBN and the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).

He countered the rumours that the GMR would not build the much-hyped project, and said that it was a painful process to initiate a project with the standards set by an international financial institution like the Asian Development Bank.

IBN chief executive office Maha Prasad Adhikari also expressed hope that the project would conclude the financial closure within the extended deadline of September 2017.

“Its completion will have a significant impact on the national economy of the country, and inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),” he said.

He said that the Board was ready to support the company in resolving any complexities that may come in the way of implementing the project.

FNCCI president Bhawani Rana said that electricity was a prerequisite for economic growth, and pledged every support to the project.

“Development of such a big project will have significant impact on FDI inflow, employment, tourism promotion, social and economic development and infrastructure as well as lifestyle,” she said.

The project will cover three districts – Accham, Surkhet and Dailekh.

As per the PDA, Nepal will receive 27 per cent free equity in the project and 12 per cent free energy, which amounts to 108 MW.