At a time when the country is facing crippling hours of load-shedding, a private sector company has commissioned a new hydro project of small scale.

Despite having started its construction amid the escalating conflict, the Khudi Hydropower Limited (KHL) completed the construction of 4 MW strong Khudi hydropower project within 15 months. It is going to be formally inaugurated at Khudi – 9 km north of Besisahar in Lamjung district on March 8.

“Although this is a small project, the success of its construction can provide us with models for future,” said Gyanendra Lal Pradhan, chairman of KHL.

The KHL is promoted by three developers including Butwal Power Company (60% share); SCP Hydro International Inc, Canada (25%) and Lamjung Electricity Development Company (15%).

The KHL project is located along Khudi river in Simpani, Khudi and Ghanapokhara VDCs of Lamjung district. The power generated is evacuated through 14 km long 33 KV transmission like to Udipur substation. The project was put into commercial operation on December 30. At present, the project is supplying electricity to Khudi, Besisahar, Dumre, Bandipur and nearby areas.

Completed at the total cost of Rs 560 million – Rs 40 million less than initial cost estimation – the project has also invested over Rs 24 million in social mitigation efforts with the help of CEDA. “We have electrified parts of three VDCs, supported 26 schools, set up health posts, constructed football ground, motorable road to village and provided training to many local people,” said Pradhan.

According to Francois Vitez, Director of SCP Hydro International – a Canadian investing company – the result at Khudi has generated a lot of interest among big Canadian investors about projects in Nepal.

“Currently, a delegation of Canada including the distribution chief of Hydro Quebec and other potential investors is visiting Nepal and they have shown interest to develop other projects,” said Vitez. The Canadian delegation led by Andre Boulanger has already met with Finance Minister, Minister of State for Water Resources and Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

Besides, the team of Khudi developers have already identified Nyadi project as their next venture. “Once the PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) is sealed, we can start the 24-MW strong Nyadi within three months,” said Pradhan.