KATHMANDU, Dec 10
The Investment Board (IB) will establish investment fund for comprehensive study of projects and to take them to construction stage. It is preparing to start the fund by collecting additional funds from the donor agencies with the budget allocated by the government proving inadequate for feasibility study of bigger projects.
Joint Secretary at IB Mukunda Prasad Paudel said the World Bank (WB), the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Department for International Development (DFID) have agreed for establishing the fund. He said the amount of the fund, however, has not been fixed, and will depend on donor assistance. “WB, ADB, JICA and DFID were positive during Monday’s discussion. They have also expressed commitment to be clear about investment after holding further discussions on the issue,” he added. IB plans to invest through the fund on finishing study of all the projects over 500 MW to take them to the construction stage. It will be easier for IB to move more big projects forward after establishment of the fund. IB has been given responsibility of moving 14 big projects, including five hydropower projects, by the government.
Secretary Poudel revealed that IB has reached the final stage of doing project development agreement (PDA) with promoters of four of those five big hydropower projects. “Eighty percent of the important works for PDA have been completed. We will sign PDA with the promoters after finishing the remaining works soon,” he added. He revealed that legal documents have already been prepared for PDA while IB is currently preparing financial details. IB officials are currently in London for further study about PDA.
IB is preparing to do PDA with promoters of four big projects with combined installed capacity of 3,050 MW. The projects include Arun III (900 MW) promoted by the Sutlej Hydro Power Corporation Limited of India, Upper Karnali (900 MW) and Marsyangdi II (600 MW) by GMR, and Tamakoshi III (650 MW) by SN Power of Norway. The promoters have prepared the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and are waiting for PDA.
Source : Karobar Daily
