Financial closure for hydropower project in Nepal

Consortium Power Developers (CPD) has achieved financial closure for developing the 24.1 MW Kharekhola Hydropower Project in Nepal.

CPD Chairman Lal Krishna KC and CEO of Machhapuchchhre Bank Tulasi Ram Gautam signed an agreement a couple of days ago in the national capital Kathmandu.

CPD is a consortium of companies formed by Ms. Excelling Investment Ltd., Ms. Lama Construction (P.) Ltd., Ms. P S Construction (P.) Ltd. and Ms. Sahiba International (P.) Ltd.

Other banks that are financing project are Nabil, Everest, Global IME, Nepal SBI, Nepal Credit and Commerce, Kumari, Bank of Kathmandu, Siddhartha and Nepal Bangladesh.

A press statement issued today by CPD said:

“The signing of the credit agreement today will expedite the process of building project. A consortium of 10 commercial banks led by Machhapuchchhre has agreed to extend a credit line of Rs 2.94 billion (around US$30 million) to the hydro project being built at a cost of Rs 3.92 billion (around US$40.5 million) in Dolakha district."

The project, which has received generation licence for 35 years, including construction period, is expected to produce electricity by 2017.

The project has the capacity to generate 139.22 million units of electricity per year. This electricity would be evacuated to the national grid using a nine-km transmission line, which the project developers will build.

The project developer will sell electricity to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) under a dollar-denominated power purchase agreement.