Nepal Telecom (NT) has agreed to invest Rs 6 billion in Upper Tamakoshi Hydro-electric project after Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) assured the former of 10 percent share ownership on the project as per the directives of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nagarik daily reported.

The agreement was reached at a meeting of line ministers and high-level officials of NEA and NT in presence of Prime Minister Nepal Friday.

According to the agreement, NT will provide Rs 6 billion in installments to NEA for the construction of the project. Part of it will be as share investment, while the remaining will be as a loan.

The amount of money to be used for share has not been fixed. NEA officials have proposed Rs 0.6 billion be invested as share and the remaining as a loan. The next meeting of finance, energy and communication secretaries will determine share investment to loan proportion and also revise the share structure of the project.

NT’s investment in the project was in a limbo as it had put forward share ownership as a pre-condition to its investment, while NEA had refused it saying the entire share structure needed to be changed to do so.

NEA officials agreed to change the share structure and provide share to NT after PM Nepal instructed them to do so on Friday’s meeting. Information and communication minister Shankar Pokhrel, energy minister Prakash Sharan Mahat and finance minister Surendra Pandey were present at the meeting along with top-level officials of NEA and NT.

According to the present share structure of the hydel-project to be constructed in Lama Bagar VDC of Dolakha district, NEA will own 51 percent, Employees Provident Fund 20 percent, Public 10 percent, locals of Dolakha 10 percent, employees of Upper Tamakoshi and NEA six percent and staff of organisations investing loans in the project will own three percent share of the project.

NT has asked NEA to provide 10 percent share from from the share allocated to the latter. But NEA officials have said, the new agreement could also reduce the proportion of share allocated to others apart from locals of Dolakha. There has been agreement with locals of Dolakha not reduce their share ownership from 10 percent.

Meanwhile, finance minister Surendra Pandey has said the government will become a guarantor to the project.

Addressing a programme organised by Upper Tamakoshi Sarokar Samiti in the capital Friday, minister Pandey said, the government will become a guarantor for additional funds for the project if the amount provided by NTC does not suffice.

The 456 MW hydel project, when completed, will increase NEA’s installed capacity by almost double. nepalnews.com

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