Investment Board to showcase 63 projects in investment summit

The Investment Board-Nepal (IBN) today approved 63 projects – ranging from 340 million to Rs 340 billion – to be showcased at the Nepal Investment Summit scheduled for March 29-30.
The 35th board meeting chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today has approved the projects prepared by the board to be showcased before investors – both the foreign and domestic – at the investment summit that is expected to see some 400 participants.
The projects related to transportation, tourism, agriculture, education and health sectors will be showcased before the investors, board chief executive officer Maha Prasad Adhikari said, adding that the approved projects include Kathmandu Bus Rapid Transit, Ramgram-Tilaurakot Bus Rapid Transit, West Seti Hydel Project, Second International Airport in Nijgadh, Warehouse and Processing Centres, Sunkoshi-2 and Sunkoshi-3 Hydel Projects, Madhya Kaligandak Hydel Project, Special Economic Zone (Simara), Hetauda Smart City, Waste Management Project (Butwal), Dhulikhel Medicity and Pokhara Technical School. "The board will present the projects with all their features, including financial analysis at the summit."
The board has also selected the projects keeping in the federal setup in the mind with priority projects of different provinces, he added. Among those on the list are seven projects in road and air transport, including three new projects Kathmandu Bus Rapid Transit, Ramgram-Tilaurakot Bus Rapid Transit and Sudurpashchim Sarbajanik Yatayat. The latter two projects are of Province 5 and Sudurpaschim Province respectively.
There are also five projects in tourism infrastructure, including at local and provincial levels. Likewise, the board has prepared 13 projects in hydro-power including six in the private sector, to present at the summit.
Likewise, two educational and health sector projects and three in industrial infrastructure are also ready to showcase. Three urban infrastructures have also made it to the list apart from two cement factories and three cable car projects, Adhikari added. "Some 400 delegates have confirmed their participation in the summit and most of them are from China and India."
Prime Minister during the meeting also directed the government agencies for security arrangements.
Earlier, the board that had exhibited eight projects at the first Investment Summit in 2017 has left out three projects – Tamakoshi III, Integrated Solid Waste Management Project and Kathmandu Hetauda Tunnel Highway – for the second summit.
Tamakoshi III is already taken up by a private party and the solid waste project is now in the implementation phase. The tunnel highway is also signing contract with Chinese investors this week after the special annual general meeting called on March 23.

Government to hand over Tamakoshi-3 hydro project licence to TBI

The Energy Ministry is going to award project feasibility survey licence of Tamakoshi-3 Hydropower Project to TBI Holding.
The company has filed a feasibility survey licence application at the Department of Electricity Development (DoED) on October 11 for project that was earlier expected to generate the 650 MW. But the SN Power – a Norwegian energy developer – had left the project as it found the project not feasible to generate 650 MW and sell it to Indian market.
The department approved the application and forwarded it to the Energy Ministry for final approval, according to the department's spokesperson Babu Raj Adhikari.
"The documents presented by TBI Holding along with the application were complete," he said, adding that the department has forwarded the application to the ministry recommending that survey licence be awarded to the company.
TBI Holding – a company owned by newly elected president of the Non Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) Bhaban Bhatta – will survey the Tamakoshi 3 within 2 years to finalise the generating capacity, return on investment and its feasibility.
The government has authorised the board to implement hydropower projects with installed capacity of 500MW or above. According to the Investment Board Act 2011, the board has sole authority to implement project of 500 MW and above.
The project was in the basket – after the SN Power walked out in 2016 – of the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) as it was still expected to generate 650 MW, though there has been not any possibility of generating more than 305 MW due to current policy brought by the former energy minister Janardan Sharma.
Tamakoshi 3 – a run-of-the-river (RoR) project located in Dolakha and Ramechhap districts – is projected to cost Rs 130 billion, if it is developed as according to the SN Power's plan.
The board claimed that it was gearing up to launch international bidding to develop the hydropower as it has not revised the generation feasibility according to the new policy brought by energy minister Janardan Sharma. The new policy has many provisions that has forced the hydel project to downsize to almost half.
However, the board also claimed that it has prepared a modality for the construction of the project under the public private partnership (PPP) model with a mix of domestic and international investments after the potential developer Statkraft of Norway pulled out from the project in January 2016 before signing project development agreement (PDA).
"The board had forwarded the proposal to the ministry in April, seeking suggestions," according to higher official at the board, who claimed that it was waiting for the ministry’s response. 
SN Power – the Norwegian company – had spent Rs 1 billion to conduct a survey, obtain technical updates and perform environment impact assessment after receiving a survey licence from the government in March 2008.
Officials said it had abandoned the project over concerns about finding buyers for the electricity produced by the project. Statkraft had planned to sell energy in India but it lost hope after it could not get price it wanted from India and selling in the domestic market was also not feasible.