Nepal grants permission for second hydropower project to be developed by India

On Sunday, Nepal made the decision to grant India’s Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Limited permission to build a second hydropower project there. SJVN is currently building a 900-MW Arun -III hydropower project on the Arun River in Eastern Nepal, with a completion date of 2024. An official statement said the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, approved the draught project development agreement (PDA) to be signed with India’s state-owned SJVN to develop the 669-megawatt (MW) Lower Arun Hydropower project in eastern Nepal. The news comes only days before Prime Minister Prachanda’s visit to India, which begins on Wednesday. Before it can be implemented, the draught must be approved by the Council of Ministers. The previous meeting of the IBN had approved a Rs 92.68 billion investment for the development of the project. The development of this 669-MW transformative project will prove to be a milestone for the socio-economic development of the country, according to the statement by the IBN. The SJVN has formed a local company, Lower Arun Power Development Company, in Nepal. The Lower Arun project located in the Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur districts will not have any reservoir or dam and will be a tailrace development of Arun-III, which will mean water re-enters the river for the Lower Arun project. This is the third project undertaken, all through negotiation windows, on the Arun River after the 900 MW Arun-III and 695 MW Arun-IV hydroelectricity projects. The three projects will generate nearly 2,300 MW of electricity from the river in Sankhuwasabha district, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.