KATHMANDU, Sept 13: A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the development of the country's largest hydropower project to be built with the foreign direct investment (FDI) on Tuesday.

Energy Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet laid the foundation stone of the project with the capacity of 216 megawatt which is being developed for domestic consumption with FDI from a Korean company.

The dam and physical structures of the project are located at Haku village of Amachhodingmo Rural Municipality-1 while the underground powerhouse lies at Uttargaya Rural Municipality in Rasuwa district.

During the groundbreaking ceremony, Minister Basnet said the government is creating an investment-friendly environment to lure international and domestic investors and to achieve economic prosperity in the country through hydropower projects.

The main investor of the project is South-East Power of Korea.

President and Chief Executive Officer of South-East Power Hau Chun Kim said development of the project would be instrumental to achieve economic prosperity by exporting surplus power to the neighboring countries and minimize climate change impacts.

Development of the project started in 2020 and the overall physical progress of the project is 22 per cent so far.

The dam construction of the project shall start after the monsoon is over.

Total cost of the project is estimated to be 647.3 million US Dollars and nine international financial institutions have agreed to invest 453.2 million US Dollars. Remaining amount will be managed through equity.

 
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