Tuesday, July 30, 2013

30 foreign delegates to participate in hydropower meet


Some 30 participants from four sovereign wealth funds and international power developers will congregate in Kathmandu to discuss on the Nepal´s hydropower development on August 28 and 29. The Hydropower Investment Development Company Limited has invited sovereign funds from Canada, UAE, China and Singapore and power developers from China, Australia and India, among others, to take part in Hydropower Investment Meeting. Speaking at a press meet on Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer of HIDCL Deepak Rauniar said that they would put forward projects like Nalsing Gadh (410 MW) and Budhigandaki (600 MW), among others, to the participants, aiming to lure investment. Both are reservoir type projects and hence need a huge investment. The estimated cost of Nalising Gadh is US$ 737.39 million and Budhigandaki is expected to cost $1.50 billion. Rauniar also said that they would discuss on technical, financial and other issues of the projects in a bid to attract foreign investment. According to HIDCL, the meeting is a follow-up activity of the Investors´ Forum of 2011. Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Finance, Investment Board of Nepal and Asian Development Bank are supporting the event. The meeting begins right after the conclusion of a two-day Power Summit being organized by Independent Power Producers´ Association Nepal on August 26 and 27. IPPAN is also participating in the meeting. HIDCL has already invested in Mistri Khola (42 MW) and Dordi Khola (27 MW) hydropower projects through consortiums led by different commercial banks.

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