The way has been cleared for the construction of the 480-megawatt semi-reservoir-based Phukot Karnali Hydropower Project, which had been stalled for about two years.

The project will now move forward after the Supreme Court dismissed the writ petition filed against granting 51 percent of the shares to the Indian company NHPC Limited.

A division bench of Supreme Court Justices Hari Prasad Phuyal and Saranga Subedi on Monday dismissed the writ petition filed by Yashoda Kumari Baral and Ajay Bahadur Shahi of Raskot Municipality-8, Kalikot.

Earlier, on January 5, 2024, the court had issued a mandamus order in the name of the government, directing it not to immediately implement the agreement reached between the power generation company and NHPC. Since then, all work on the project had come to a complete halt.

According to Bakhat Bahadur Shahi, Chief Executive Officer of the Electricity Generation Company Limited, the court’s decision has paved the way for resuming all stalled works, including land acquisition, compensation distribution, construction of company housing, test tunnels, roads, and approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). He stated that about 1.5 billion rupees have already been spent so far, while the estimated cost of the project is around 92.3 billion rupees.

In mid May/ mid June 2022, during then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s visit to India, an agreement was reached under which NHPC would hold 51 percent ownership and the Electricity Generation Company would hold 49 percent. Claiming that this decision was against the national interest, local residents and stakeholders had filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court.

The project is projected to generate 2,446 gigawatt-hours (about 2.44 billion units) of electricity annually, with an estimated revenue of around 19 billion rupees.

Although the project had been scheduled for completion by 2033, court disputes have caused a delay of about two years.

Source: BizNews