Thor Gislesen, ambassador of Norway to Nepal is pressurising the government to provide the license for the project to SN Power, a Norwegian company, he said. The ambassador has already met Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal and Minister for Water Resources Bishnu Poudel and urged them to issue the license for the Khimti II located in Dolakha and Ramechhap districts to SN Power, the ministry official said.
Earlier, the government had scrapped the license for Khimti II provided to SN Power after the latter submitted a written application to the Power Development Board stating that it could not commission the project. Meanwhile, according to the officials, the ministry has been saying that the license for the project will be issued after carrying out bidding process by opening tenders from potential bidders. SN Power has already acquired the licenses for 600-MW Tamakoshi II and III and 50-MW Khimti-6 and is carrying out feasibility study on these projects now.
“The government fears that the Norwegian company will only hold on to the license and fail to commission the project while it is carrying out feasibility study on two other projects,” the source said. The government is thinking of issuing the license for other hydropower projects to SN Power only after it successfully completes the projects undertaken earlier, he said. However, according to Dr. Sandip Shah, regional director of SN Power, Norway, the company has not made any attempts to pressurize the ministry to issue the license through the ambassador. Shah said, as Khimti II is a part of the 60-MW Khimti I project, we want to commission this project. SN Power commissioned the Khimti I project in the year 2000.
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