NHPC keen to bid for Nepal's $2.5 bn power project pulled from China: Report

NHPC could bid for a $2.5 billion hydropower project in Nepal, its chairman told a news agency, after Kathmandu cancelled a deal with China Gezhouba Group Corp.
China and India jostle for influence over infrastructure projects in Nepal and the deal with China was scrapped after it was criticised for being handed to the company without any competitive bidding.
State-run NHPC could look at developing what will be the country's biggest hydropower plant, its Chairman Balraj Joshi told Reuters.
"It is too early to talk about...
funding as firstly the techno-economical parameters of the project would have to be studied," Joshi said on November 17. With elections in Nepal scheduled for later this month, the project is may not be discussed by the governments anytime soon, a senior power ministry official said.
Among other projects in Nepal, a 750 megawatts (MW) project is to be built on the western part of the country by China's state-owned Three Gorges International Corp, while two Indian companies - GMR Group and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited - are set to build one 900 MW hydropower plant each, mainly to be exported to India.
NHPC was incorporated in the year 1975 with an objective to plan, promote and organise an integrated and efficient development of hydroelectric power in all aspects. Later on, NHPC expanded its objects to include development of power in all its aspects through conventional and non-conventional sources in India and abroad.
Government of India currently holds 74.6 percent stake in NHPC (as per the shareholding pattern as on 30 September 2016).
NHPC, the Miniratna PSU, is India's leading company in power sector and is among the top 10 companies in the country in terms of investment with an installed power generation capacity of 5,702 MW, including 1,520 MW implemented through joint ventures (JV). Seven projects with a total capacity of 4,095 MW are under construction. NHPC currently has an installed capacity of 5,147 MW at standalone and 6,717 MW on consolidated basis with a total of 22 operating power stations. 19 hydro power stations besides one wind power project are operated by NHPC while two are operated by NHDC, a subsidiary company with the Government of Madhya Pradesh.