PM invites hydropower developers

Prime Minister and UCPN-Maoist Vice-chairperson Baburam Bhattarai today called on foreign investors to invest in hydropower projects in the country.

At the Energy Investors’ Forum that began in the Capital today, Bhattarai made a veiled reference to an attack on the Dailekh-based office of the Upper Karnali project and said, “We are aware that a few unpleasant incidents have taken place. Such incidents violate the law of the land and are inconsistent with any political party’s policy, leave aside a government policy.” Bhattarai pledged to put adequate security arrangements in place in and around power project sites.

At the forum, Energy Minister Posta Bahadur Bogati, who also represents the Maoists in the government, stressed the need to implement the 900-MW Upper Karnali project after further talks between the government and GMR-ITD Consortium that had signed a Memorandum of Understanding in January 2008 for development of the project.

Officials at the GMR office in Kathmandu said it has already completed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and feasibility study on the project.

“We are now waiting for a call from the government to sign a Project Development Agreement,” said a GMR official.

Meanwhile, in Parliament, Maoist lawmaker Naresh Bhandari sought termination of the Upper Karnali MoU through a proposal that called the MoU ‘unconstitutional and non-binding’.