Nepal has decided to allow India’s Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Limited to develop a second hydropower project in the country.
At present SJVN is developing a 900-MW Arun -III hydroelectric project, a run-of-river located on the Arun River in Eastern Nepal, scheduled to be completed in 2024.
An official statement said a meeting of the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) chaired by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda approved the draft project development agreement (PDA) to be signed with India’s state-owned SJVN to develop the 669-megawatt (MW) Lower Arun Hydropower project in eastern Nepal.
The development comes days before Prime Minister Prachanda’s visit to India starting Wednesday. The draft needs to be endorsed by the Council of Ministers before it gets implemented.
The previous meeting of the IBN had approved 92.68 billion rupees investment for the development of the project.
“The development of this 669-MW transformative project will prove to be a milestone for the socio-economic development of the country,” according to the statement by the IBN.