"We will distribute share certificates to the locals of two VDCs, namely Khare and Gaurishankar, within a week," Bishnu Adhikari, chairman of the company told Republica. [break]The company took the decision after holding a meeting with local leaders of different political parties, locals from the VDCs and officials of the district administration office.
According to Adhikari, the total cost of the project is Rs 1.32 billion. "The cost will be financed through 80 percent loan and 20 percent shares," Adhikari said. "Locals will get a total of Rs 101 million as their share in the project."
Additionally, the power developer has decided to allow locals to buy another 10 percent share in the project. "This is a new modality of managing share in the project," said Adhikari, adding that the project will start generating Rs 320 million in revenue after five years by when it will have paid loans.
A consortium of banks such as Sanima Bikas bank, Bank of Kathmandu, Bank of Asia, NMB Bank and Nabil Bank have financed the project. "Rs 1.1 billion has come in the form of bank loan," Adhikari said.
Local leaders have appreciated the company´s decision to issue shares for free. "The decision to issue shares to locals for free is appreciative. This should be replicated in all the hydropower projects in the country," former lawmakers and leader of UCPN (Maoist) said.
The concerned group committee of the project is working on developing a modality to issue shares to locals for free. "The modality will be completed at the earliest," said Bala Ram Thapa, coordinator of the committee.
Related story
Asian Hydropower's IPO opens for public
