Issuing a statement, the board, on June 14, said the government had endorsed the template of PDA for hydropower projects above 500 MW. Making a U-turn in its previous statement, the board has now notified the National Information Commission (NIC) that no such template has been approved.[break]
The board´s recent statement came after NIC inquired it about the status of the PDA template. The NIC approached the board after it received a complaint from an NGO, seeking details of the template.
"The meeting of the Nepal Investment Board of Directors on June 14 has approved the new PDA template for hydropower projects above 500 MW,” NIB had said in the statement.
The board had also said that the template would be applicable for four mega hydropower projects -- Tamakoshi III (650 MW), Upper Karnali (900 MW), Upper Marsyangdi (600 MW) and Arun III (900 MW).
Now, the board officials say the PDA template is yet to be finalized and that preliminary discussions on it were underway.
Advocate Apurba Khatiwada, an executive member of Law Student Society, had filed the complaint, demanding full text of the template, under the Right to Information Act.
“I approached the NIC after the board turned down my request saying that negotiations with power developers will be affected if the template is made public," Khatiwada said.
The board officials have now admitted that the PDA template is still under discussion.
"The PDA template is yet to be finalized; we are having discussions with stakeholders in order to finalize it," Radesh Pant, CEO of NIB, told Republica on Sunday.
Related story
PDA template only for export-oriented projects: NIB
