Govt revokes agreement for Budhi Gandaki with Chinese company

Setopati

2017-11-13 11:24:54

The government on Monday has revoked the decision to award the contract for development of the Budhi Gandaki Hydroelectric Project to China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC). Energy Minister Kamal Thapa confirmed revocation of the contract by the Cabinet meeting held Monday morning. "The Cabinet meeting today has revoked the agreement on Budhi Gandaki done with China Gezhouba Group in an irregular and whimsical manner as per the instruction of parliamentary committees," Thapa tweeted.

अनियमित र हचुवाढंगले गेजुवा ग्रुप संग गरिएको बुढि गण्डकी जलविद्युत आयोजनाको समझौता संसदिय समितिहरुको निर्देशन बमोजिम आज बसेको मन्त्रिपरिषद बैठकले खारेज गरेको छ
— Kamal Thapa (@KTnepal) November 13, 2017

The then Pushpa Kamal Dahal government on May 23, when Janardan Sharma was energy minister, had decided to award the project to CGGC under the engineering, procurement, construction and finance (EPCF) model without a bidding process. The decision to award the 1200 MW project to the Chinese company with a dodgy record in Nepal and blacklisted in other countries was widely condemned and former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai was the most vocal and prominent critic of the decision.

Published Date: 2017-11-13 11:24:54

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