Advocate Lokanath Chapagain moved the apex court, arguing that the government´s decision is against the existing Public Procurement Act. The petitioner has urged the SC to stay the government´s decision for the time being and to finally scrap the decision. [break]
The petitioner has claimed that the upgradation will add unnecessary financial burden on the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and will take three more years for the completion of the project.
Despite strong objection from the opposition parties and hydropower experts, the cabinet meeting on Thursday had decided to upgrade the project´s capacity.
The run-of-the-river project is being developed by a Chinese contractor, China Gezhouba group Co, with a US$ 89 million soft loan from the Exim Bank of China. The project will not help reduce the load-shedding during the dry season as it will produce extra energy only during the wet season.
Though the contractor had initially agreed to develop 90 MW for $111 million, the government has now agreed to spend $132 million for the same capacity. The government had awarded the project to the Chinese contractor to develop 60 MW at $89 million.
The board of directors of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) had twice rejected the upgradation plan forwarded by the government. Following rejection from the board, the Ministry of Energy (MoE) had forwarded the proposal to the cabinet by bypassing the NEA board.
Prime Minister Bhattarai, the prime minister´s office, MoE, NEA and China Gezhouba Group Co, among others have been made defendants in the writ.
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