Discussions with banks and financial institutions for investment are underway as financial management will not be possible until a PPA is in place.
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The 439 MW Betan Karnali Hydropower Project, which is being constructed under the leadership of the Employees Provident Fund, is set to move forward after receiving the generation license and investment approval. The project's power purchase agreement (PPA) has reached the final stage, according to the Betan Karnali Sankarta Hydropower Company.
‘We have received the production license, the PPA has reached the final stage, and according to the information received from the Nepal Electricity Authority, we are preparing to go to the board meeting of the authority,’ said the company’s managing director Krishna Prasad Acharya, ‘We will work on financial management as soon as the PPA is signed.’
Acharya said that discussions are underway with banks and financial institutions for investment as there will be no financial management until the PPA is signed. Betan Karnali had applied to the Department of Electricity Development for the license on 10 Falgun 2078. However, Betan Karnali received the license only on 15 Ashar 2082.
The then Director General of the department, Navinraj Singh, had said that the license process was delayed even after the project did not submit the documents. The department stated that the environmental impact assessment report was approved on 176 Pus 2080 and Betan’s net worth documents were submitted to the department only in Shrawan 2081.
The generation license was delayed after Indian company Grandhi Mallikarjun Rao (GMR) objected to the Betan Karnali dam. The dispute arose after GMR filed an application with the Ministry of Forest and Environment, expressing concern that the tailrace, which releases water from the Upper Karnali back into the Karnali River after production, would be submerged by the Betan Karnali reservoir.
GMR had filed an application with the Ministry of Forest and Environment on 5 Mangsir 2080, stating that the highest water level (full supply level – FSL) of the Betan reservoir and the end point of the tailrace of the Upper Karnali would clash.
GMR had filed an application with the Ministry of Forest and Environment on 5 Mangsir 2080, stating that this would affect electricity production in Upper Karnali as well as other technical aspects.
GMR has written a letter to the Ministry of Forest and Environment, stating that this would affect other technical aspects, including Upper Karnali's electricity production. A 140-meter-high dam has been proposed for the Betan Karnali project in Achham and Surkhet. After the dam is constructed, a reservoir with a capacity to store 161.69 million cubic meters of water will be built in the upper area. When this reservoir is fully filled, the FSL will be 473.30 meters above sea level.
According to Betan Karnali Hydropower, the project has been designed to maximize the use of resources based on the water level released from the Upper Karnali tailrace. Betan Karnali claimed that the Upper Karnali tailrace would not be submerged because the lower point of the Upper Karnali tailrace was designed to be 473.30 meters above sea level.
Upper Karnali, on the other hand, had sent a letter to the government body claiming that its tailrace would be submerged due to its Betan Karnali reservoir. Acharya said that the issue has been resolved in coordination with the Investment Board. ‘We had been saying that the Betan Karnali dam would not inundate the upper Karnali tailrace,’ he said, ‘The issue was resolved in coordination with the Investment Board. And we got the permit.’
The Investment Board meeting held last November has approved an investment of Rs 93.40 billion. 7 lakh in the 439 MW Betan Karnali semi-reservoir hydropower project. According to the Detailed Project Report (DPR), the total cost of the project is Rs 74.15 billion (excluding interest during the construction period).
It is estimated that the construction period will cost Rs 88.19 billion. The report states that work has been taken forward to arrange a loan of about Rs 57.32 billion required for the project by maintaining a debt-equity ratio of 65/35.
A 95-kilometer access road will have to be constructed from Guttu in Chokune Rural Municipality to the dam site of the project (Khargadhi). "The access road track has been built, and a survey team is at the project site to estimate the cost of upgrading it," he said. "The team will have to build a concrete bridge along with upgrading the access road. It will study it and come back." Acharya said that the target is to go for tender in the next fiscal year after the survey team submits its report. He said that the target is to manage the finances within the current fiscal year once the PPA is signed.
