NEA recalls Chilime MD Kulman Ghishing

    1509

    KATHMANDU, JUL 18 –

    kul man ghisingNepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has decided to call back Kulman Ghising from Chilime Hydropower Company Limited (CHCL).

    CHCL Managing Director Ghising is credited with expanding Chilime into the country’s leading power developing company.

    NEA had sent Ghising as director of the Chilime board, and later the board selected him as the managing director.

    NEA said Ghising was called back after his tenure as director ended on June 19, 2014. NEA cited the Company Act’s provision which states the tenure of a director of a public company shall not exceed four years.

    NEA Officiating MD Ram Chandra Pandey said Ghising’s call back was a regular process and the move did not have any other motives. “Ghising was sent as Chilime’s director. His appointment as MD was the board’s decision. Now, we are calling back the director whose tenure has come to an end,” said Pandey.

    He also said since NEA has around 40 directors and 80 managers, all of them have to be given equal opportunity. NEA has a majority stake in Chilime, and the NEA MD is Chilime board’s chairman.

    NEA board members Manoj Mishra and Laxman Agrawal also echoed Pandey. They said it was necessary to call Ghising bank to maintain discipline within the institution. “NEA can again assign him as board member. However, since his tenure has ended, he should report to NEA first,”said Agrawal.

    However, the Chilime board is learnt to be unhappy about the NEA decision. A Chilime board member, on condition of anonymity, told the Post the board called for a meeting thrice after Pandey was promoted as officiating NEA MD, but he never showed up, and the meeting never convened.

    Ghising said it was unfair to call him back as the decision was taken only by the NEA board. “Chilime has its own board, and the agenda should have been discussed there first,” he said.

    Chilime Hydropower Company Limited (Chilime) was incorporated in 1995 with an objective of generating electricity through optimal utilisation of resources within the country.

    The company currently owns and operates 22.1MW Chilime Hydropower Project, the country’s first indigenously-designed, locally-built and Nepali-financed power plant.

    CHCL has established three subsidiaries, Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Company Limited, Madhya Bhotekoshi Jalavidhyut Company Limited and Sanjen Jalavidhyut Company Limited.

    Under Ghising’s leadership, CHCL is developing four more hydropower projects with a combined capacity of around 270MW, including 11MW Rasuwagadi, 103MW Bhotekohsi III, 42MW Sanjen and 14MW Upper Sanjen.

    He was also instrumental in Chilime’s initial public offering.

    This is not the first time that Ghising is being called back. One year ago, then Energy Minister Umakanta Jha had decided to remove Ghising. But the decision was revoked following strong protest from NEA Trade Union and residents of Rasuwa, where the project is based.

    Source : The Kathmandu Post