13 march,kathmandu. The Government of Japan through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to provide an assistance of Rs. 13.65 billion to Nepal for the implementation of the Tanahun Hydropower Project.
The note of this agreement has been signed by Shantaraj Subedi, Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Kunio Takahashi, ambassador of Japan to Nepal, on behalf of their respective governments.
According to a press release issued today by the Ministry of Finance, the loan agreement has been signed by Madhu Kumar Marasini, Joint Secretary of the Ministry and Masataka Nakahara, Director General, South Asia Department of JICA, on behalf of the government of Nepal and JICA, respectively.
JICA has provided the amount to be paid back within the next 40 years for the reservoir type hydropower project. The Ministry of Energy stated that a total cost of the project is estimated to be 505 million US dollars.
Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) are the other co-financers of the project.
The project is developed on the Seti River near Damauli of Tanahun district and expected to generate 140 MW of electricity all the year round. The government has a plan to complete the project within December, 2020.
The government through a subsidiary loan agreement will on-lend the total loan to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and the NEA will provide the assistance to Tanahun Hydropower Limited (THL) for the implementation of the project.
After the loan agreement, Japanese Ambassador to Nepal, Takahasi, expressed his confidence that the amount that was provided by the Japanese tax-payers will be well-utilized and urged the bodies concerned to maintain transparency and accountability during the implementation of the project.
Speaking at the programme, Finance Secretary Subedi recalled Nepal receiving the Japanese aid in the economic and social development since 1960, expressed gratitude that the Government of Japan and its people have been providing continuous support even in difficult times.
Likewise, Tanahun Hydropower Project stated that the detailed engineering report of the project was prepared and that it has a target of starting the construction works within a year.
