A consortium of 5 commercial banks led by Laxmi Bank and co-led by Siddhartha Bank signed a facility agreement with Numbur Himalaya Hydropower Pvt. Ltd. today to finance 24.2 MW run of the river Likhu A Hydroelectric Project being constructed at Likhu Khola of Solukhumbu and Ramechhap Districts. The project is being built at cost of around NPR 4.44 billion.
Numbur Himalaya Hydropower signed the Power Purchase Agreement with Nepal Electricity Authority on March 6, 2015 and the NPR 4.44 billion project received Generation License from the Ministry of Energy on November 2, 2015. The company is promoted by MV Dugar Group where Mr. Moti Lal Dugar is the Chairman.
The banks have committed to financing 75% of the project cost (NPR 3.33 billion) with the remaining 25% invested by the promoters. The project finance (term loan) commitments from the banks are:
– Laxmi Bank NPR 967 million
– Siddhartha Bank NPR 870 million
– Century Commercial Bank NPR 724 million
– Citizens Bank International NPR 483 million
– Bank of Kathmandu Lumbini NPR 290 million
Numbur Himalaya Hydropower (with the capacity of 24.2 MW) expects to contribute around 135.68 GWh of power annually to the nation and will be one of the large sized independent power producers (IPP) when it comes into operation in July 2020.
According to NEA’s review report for FY 2015/16, a total of 6 new projects developed by the independent power producers with their combined capacity of 30.978 MW were added to the national grid in FY 2015/16. With these 6 projects, the total number of IPP owned projects that are in operation has reached 50 with their combined installed capacity of 324.45 MW.
