Nepal-Bangladesh joint venture project received environmental approval. The Environment Impact Assessment Report for the proposed 160-billion-rupee, 683-megawatt Sunkoshi 3 hydropower project has been approved by the Ministry of Forest and Environment, paving the path for bilateral negotiations between Nepal and Bangladesh to develop the project.
According to the agreement made during the fourth meeting of the working group and joint steering committee in late August, the two countries have agreed to develop the project through a joint venture investment.
According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation on August 25, the two sides agreed that Nepal would send the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report to Bangladesh as soon as possible, and that the Bangladeshi side would provide its opinion as soon as possible, while moving forward with the process of establishing a joint venture company.
Officials from the Ministry of Energy verified that the EIA report had been approved by the Ministry of Forests and Environment. Nepal-Bangladesh joint venture project received environmental approval.
Though the two parties have agreed to build the project through a joint venture business, it is unknown whose agencies would be participating in the project, which will be erected on the boundary between the districts of Ramechhap and Kavrepalanchowk.
According to officials, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the country’s state-owned electricity utility, is the natural choice for the joint venture.
Power-hungry
Bangladesh has expressed an interest in developing hydropower projects in Nepal and purchasing electricity from the country.
At the August conference, Nepal and Bangladesh agreed to ask India to allow the export of 40-50 MW of electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh in the initial phase, using high voltage direct current power infrastructure in Bangladesh’s Bheramara.
They agreed to request a trilateral energy sales and purchase agreement between the NEA, Bangladesh Power Development Board, and India’s NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) to use the Baharampur-Bheramara cross-border power transmission link for this purpose.
