Nepal Infrastructure 
KATHMANDU: The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Limited of India submitted the preliminary report of the West Seti hydropower project to the Office of the Investment Board Nepal (OIBN) on Thursday.
Deputy General Manager (Civil) Ashok Kumar Joshi of the company handed in the report to Sushil Bhatta, Chief Executive Officer of Investment Board Nepal. The board confirmed that the inception report on the project has been received at the assigned time. The report has outlined the project’s goals, objectives, approximate cost, work, concession period, and project benefits, among others.
The company will have to study the economic, financial, technical, social, environmental, energy market assurance, transmission line, and other issues of the project and submit the detailed project within the next 21 months.
In mid-August, 2022, the government reached an agreement with the NHPC to jointly construct two hydropower projects with a combined capacity of 1200 MW in Sudurpaschim Province. An agreement has been reached with the company to build the 750 MW West Seti and 450 MW Seti River-6 hydropower projects.
HHPC can build these projects as reservoirs, semi-reservoirs, or jointly or separately. It is stated in the agreement that the Board will facilitate negotiations between the two parties for the Project Development Agreement (PDA).
The 52nd meeting of the Investment Board held on August 8, 2022, decided to allow NHPC to construct these projects after the study.
According to the agreement, the Indian company must complete its detailed study by mid-July, 2024. A detailed construction action plan will be prepared only after the completion of the study. The cost of the United West Seti project is Rs 200 billion as per the estimation few years back.
According to the Investment Board, it is estimated that Rs 100.6 billion will be spent for the construction of West Seti and Rs 100 billion for the construction of Seti River-6. It is estimated that Rs 27 billion will be spent on land acquisition and rehabilitation in West Seti, and Rs 1.7 billion will be spent on the Seti River. About 50,000 people will get direct and indirect employment opportunities during the construction phase of this project.
