SJVN Inks MoU with Investment Board of Nepal to Develop 679 MW Lower Arun HEP

Mini Ratna company SJVN has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) for the development of the 679 MW Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in Kathmandu, Nepal.

In this regard, the MoU was by signed by Nand Lal Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director of SJVN and Sushil Bhatta, CEO of IBN in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal, Bishnu Prasad Paudel, Ambassador of India to Nepal, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Arun Dhiman, CEO of SAPDC, Jitender Yadav, CFO of SAPDC, along with other senior officials from Government of Nepal and SJVN.

During the occasion, Nand Lal Sharma, CMD, SJVN, said “SJVN Ltd has bagged 679 MW Lower Arun HEP through International Competitive Bidding (ICB), which involved big players. The Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project is located in Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur Districts of Nepal.”

He further added “the project will not have any reservoir or dam and will be a tail race development of 900 MW Arun3 HEP. The project will have four francis type turbines. On completion the Project will generate 2,970 million units of electricity per annum.”

Moreover, the project is scheduled to be completed in four years after commencement of construction activities, and has been allocated to SJVN for 25 years on BOOT basis.

SJVN started its journey in Nepal in the year 2008 by signing of MoU for the implementation of 900 MW Arun-3 Project. The Project construction activities commenced with laying of foundation stone jointly by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Nepal, K.P. Sharma Oli in 2018 with the active help and support of IBN and Government of Nepal.

Sharma further said, “900 MW Arun 3 Hydro Electric Project has achieved significant progress in the last three years despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, as construction activities of the Project are in full swing. In order to mitigate any delays due to pandemic SJVN has already implemented acceleration plan and is committed to commission this project ahead of schedule.”

He also emphasized that such progress could not have been achieved without the continuous support of IBN and Government of Nepal. The requisite approvals were granted in a shortest possible time despite the challenges faced due pandemic.

Nand Lal Sharma stressed that “the Hydro Power has to be developed with Integrated River Basin Development approach for economic viability and to give boost to infrastructural development. This approach will result in optimization of resources and faster project completion at lower cost. He also requested Government of Nepal for providing further opportunity to SJVN in partnering with the Government for harnessing Hydro Power in Nepal.”

SJVN is a joint venture of Government of India and Government of Himachal Pradesh and its present installed capacity is 2,016.51 MW. The company aims to be 5 GW company by 2023, 12 GW company by 2030 and 25 GW company by 2040. Also, it has presence in various sectors of energy generation including hydro, wind, solar and thermal. It also has presence in the field of energy transmission.