SJVN to build Rs 7,000-cr hydro project in Nepal

The project cost will be executed with a 75:25 debt to equity ratio

Shimla-based public sector undertaking Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) on Thursday signed a project development agreement with the Nepal government for building the 900-megawatt (Mw) Arun-3 hydro electric project.

The project cost is estimated at around Rs 7,000 crore and will be executed with a 75:25 debt to equity ratio. Nepal has exempted the project from 50 per cent Custom duty and refund of value-added tax .

The agreement was signed in Kathmandu by SJVN chief R P Singh and Radesh Pant, chief executive of Investment Board of Nepal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his napelese counterpart Sushil Kumar Koirala were present at the occasion, a SJVN official said here. The Arun-3 project will have four units with a capacity of 225 Mw each.

The power from the two generating station will be carried through two 400-kilovolt circuit of 310-km length and connected to an Indian grid at Muzaffarpur, Bihar. A 78.1 per cent power will be brought to the Indian grid and an estimated rate, including transmission charge, will be Rs 4.95 a unit.

Arun-3 will achieve financial closure in 24 months and COD within 60 months. The concession term of the project is 25 years. SJVN was awarded the project in 2008. It has already deployed staff for the execution of the project. DPR is also ready, say officials.

SJVN has three operational power stations with an installed capacity of 2,000 Mw, including India's largest 1,500-Mw Nathpa Jhakri Hydro power station in Himachal Pradesh.

The company is in the process of adding 5,000 Mw of capacity from its 10 coming projects in Himachal , Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra besides in Nepal and Bhutan.