The government on Friday has decided to award the contract for development of the Budhi Gandaki Hydroelectric Project to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).
The Cabinet meeting Friday morning has decided to hand over the project to the NEA in Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) model by using domestic investment and technology. The Cabinet has formed a committee under National Planning Commission (NPC) Vice Chairman Swarnim Wagle and including finance and energy secretaries, and Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) governor and managing director of NEA to study about investment arrangements.
The committee will submit its report to the Cabinet within 15 days.
The government on November 13 had revoked the decision to award the contract to China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC).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.
