HIDC to hold hydro meet to woo foreign investors

HYDRŒLECTRIC Investment and Development Company (HIDC) will be organising an international Hydropower Investment Meeting from August 28-29 to persuade foreign investors to put money in Nepal’s hydropower sector. HIDC’s Chief Executive Officer Deepak Rauniar said they were sending out invitations to international investors—investment banks and project development companies— which have showed an interest in investing in Nepal’s hydropower. “We expect more than 30 foreign investors to take part in the meeting,” he said. Rauniar added that the gathering would be directed at attracting investment particularly in reservoir type projects. “For this, we will present a few reservoir type projects where we need investment.” Even though several hydropower related summits have been held, there has been little investment in the sector; and the country continues to suffer from a power shortage and long load-shedding hours. However, Rauniyar said he expected the proposed meeting to be fruitful as it would focus on bringing investment directly to certain projects. HIDC is organizing the meeting in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Multilateral donors like the ADB and the World Bank have also shown greater interest to invest in the energy sector. In the last fiscal year, the largest aid commitments have been made to the energy sector with the Tanahun Hydropower Project getting the highest aid pledge from donors including the ADB. “As these multilateral donors have been showing an interest in investing in the hydropower sector, they will also be taking part in the meeting,” said Rauniar. He added that the invitation list had been drawn up without focusing on certain countries. “A number of the invitees have confirmed their participation in the meeting,” he said. HIDC, a fully governmentowned company, was established two years ago to generate resources and invest in hydropower projects bigger than 25 MW. It has been investing in hydro projects as a consortium partner with commercial banks. Rauniyar said that HIDC was also considering investing in power projects in partnership with foreign investors. The gathering will be directed at attracting investment particularly in reservoir type projects