"I see less possibility of heavy investment from their side in the immediate future. Even if some firms come here, they will only come in as minority partners in existing or new ventures in Nepal," Sandip Shah, president of IPPAN (Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal), told myrepublica.com.
Shah said that SN Power, a Norway-based company, already has a stake in the 600 MW Tamakoshi III project. The BKK, another leading power developer from western Norway, is a minority partner in the 60 MW Khimti hydropower project.
Nepali investors are now mulling over expanding Khimti by another 50 MW, taking the total capacity of the project to 110 MW. It is not clear whether BKK will further invest for upgrading the project or not.
BKK is one of Norway´s largest firms involved in the production, wholesaling and transmission of electricity. It is owned by Statkraft and 17 local municipalities in western Norway and is the largest stockholder in the energy sales company Fjordkraft. BKK has 177,000 network customers, 30 hydroelectric power plants and 19,100 km of lines and cables.
Commenting on investment climate in Nepal, Siddhartha Pandey, Managing Director of Delta Core, a hydropower consulting firm in Nepal, said, "The chances are slim as SN Power is already faced with much ground problems in Tamakoshi III," adding, "The investment climate itself is not friendly to foreign companies, so it is futile to expect more even though there are commitments at least theoretically from countries such as Norway."
The private sector has raised such concerns at a time when Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal termed his recent visit to Norway and Finland as "highly successful". The private sector deemed the visit “not successful” as no significant achievement could be made toward luring investment in the hydropower sector and wind energy development from the two Nordic countries.
Gyanendra Lal Pradhan, a noted hydropower expert in the country, and FNCCI President Kush Kumar Joshi, both of whom had accompanied the prime minister in the Nordic trip agreed that no major success was achieved in luring investment in the hydropower sector.
Nepali private sector entrepreneurs had sought assistance from Norway and Finland for developing 5 MW hydropower projects in each of the 50 districts in Nepal for generating 125 MW by 2011. However, no commitment in this regard was made by the Nordic countries.
Related story
Nepal Investment Summit 2019: Nepal an untapped market for inve...
