It has been learnt that the government has formally invited the developers of Likhu-4 to engage in negotiations from January 17 next year.[break]
Although the Ministry of Energy (MoE) was supposed to invite GMR, the developer of Upper Karnali (900 MW) to conclude pending negotiations, the three rounds of talks held earlier with GMR representatives has failed to move forward owning to disagreement over issues of infrastructure building and deadline.
A copy of the letter received by Republica that is undersigned by Senior Divisional Engineer and Member Secretary of the negotiating team Madhu P Bhetuwal reads, “…the PDA negotiation meeting will be held from January 17-21, 2011 (from 12:00 noon) at the Ministry of Energy.”
Asked about the government´s decision, a senior official at the MoE conceded that the letter had been dispatched to Likhu-4.
“I came to know that Likhu-4 has been invited for negotiations after I received a copy of the letter,” the official told Republica, adding GMR was not called to settle the deal as its survey license that was issued for a period of 30 months has been awaiting renewal.
Two months back, GMR had disagreed with the government to conclude PDA deals citing that the provision envisaged in Hydropower Development Policy 2001 of handing over export-oriented projects violated the Electricity Act 1992.
While the policy states that any export-oriented projects must be handed over to the government after 30 years under the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) model, the government has the right to issue license for generation, transmission or distribution of electricity up to a maximum period of 50 years.
GMR had also demanded that it be allowed to upgrade Karnali Highway including other infrastructures to make the project site accessible before the grant of generation license.
Likhu-4 project, which is situated in Okhaldhunga and Ramechap districts, has an installed capacity to generate 120 MW of electricity. It is a joint venture of Bhilwara Energy Limited, India and Triveni Energy Limited, Nepal. The estimated cost of the project is about 15 billion rupees.
The survey license was granted to the project in January 2006. The project is expected to generate electricity within four years after the issuance of generation license.
Other export-oriented projects like Tamakoshi 3 ´A´ (880MW), Upper Marshyangdi (600 MW), Arun III (402 MW), Lower Arun (400 MW) and Balefi (50 MW) are also awaiting PDA deals.
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