Kathmandu, Oct 28: India has agreed to construct a 600-megawatt hydro-electric power plant in western Nepal at a cost of approximately one billion dollars, a Nepalese official told reporters today. Details of the agreement are being thrashed out during talks here between senior officials of Nepal's Water Resources Ministry and their counterparts from New Delhi, the ministry official said.
The project, to be sited at Budhi-Gandaki, about 100 km north of the Indo-Nepal border in the west, will be launched as soon as possible, the official added.
The five-member Indian team is being led by Ministry of Water Resources Commissioner M L Goel, while the seven-member Nepalese official team is headed by the Director General of the Electricity Development Department, Lekh Man Singh Bhandari.
Other members of the Indian team include the Chief Engineer of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) S N Dhiman, Director of the Central Water Commission SC Gupta, Indian government official A R Ghanashyam and Chief Engineer of the Water and Power Consultant Service India, M N Kumar.
During today's talks, Nepal proposed that India sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as soon as possible.
"India has agreed to send the draft to the Nepalese ministry of finance before its signing in the next three to four weeks," the official said.
A team comprising officials of both countries will be visiting the Budhi-Gandaki site tomorrow before sitting for a second round of talks, the official said.
Bureau Report