Nyadi Hydropower Ltd. and Zhejiang Hydropower Construction & Installation Company Ltd. of China signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract on Jan. 16 for the 30-MW Nyadi hydropower project, according to local published reports.
The EPC contract covers the construction of civil, hydro-mechanical and electro-mechanical works for the run-of-river project located on the Nyadi River at Bahundanda VDC of Lamjung district, in Western Nepal.
The project is about a six-hour drive north and west from Kathmandu and is estimated to cost about US$88.3 million, according to Butwal Power Co. (BPC). BPC, a public-private partnership owned by the government of Nepal, organized Nyadi Hydropower Ltd. as a special purpose vehicle to develop the project.
According to BPC, in February 2016 a bank consortium agreed to finance the project, which includes Everest Bank Ltd., Nabil Bank Ltd., Global IME Bank Ltd., Himalayan Bank Ltd., Sunrise Bank Ltd. and the state-owned Hydroelectricity Investment and Development Company Ltd.
BPC said the project was first identified in 1993 as part of Nepal’s Small Hydropower Master Plan and the project’s initial installed capacity was 2.8 MW, which was later increased to 30 MW. BPC acquired rights to the project from Lamjung Electricity Development Co. in December 2006.
Published reports indicate construction works will begin in February and will take about 38 months to complete the project, with commissioning planned for April 2020.
