Govt. Scraps Budhigandaki Hydroelectric Project with Chinese Company

The government of Nepal has decided to scrap the agreement signed with Gezhouba Group, a Chinese construction company in charge of the Budhigandaki Hydroelectric Project.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Energy Kamal Thapa said that the agreement signed “irregularly and imprudently”, was scrapped because of the directions of various parliamentary committees.

After this decision made by the cabinet on Monday, the project has been pushed back further again.

On May 23, the Cabinet led by the CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had decided on the Chinese firm. And the two sides had signed the agreement on June 4.

Since then, many voices had been raised against the project.

Last September, a joint meeting of the Finance Committee and the Agriculture and Water Resource Committee of Parliament had said that the Chinese company was not efficient for the project.

China, on the request of Nepal government, had considered this project as a part of One Belt One Road.

The Gezhouba Group had said that it would construct the project using the EPCF model or the engineering procurement contract with finance model. According to the model, all investments would be made by the company itself and Nepal would bear all costs after the completion of the construction.

According to the project report, the Budhigandaki Hydroelectric Project is estimated to cost Rs. 250 billion.