Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project will be built at any cost: PM Dahal

Kathmandu: At a time when the much aspired Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project (BGHP) has been facing a dilly dallying in its construction, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the project will be built at any cost.

Inaugurating the BGHP’s field office on Wednesday, Prime Minister Dahal asked the officials concerned to take forward the project on high priority. “The government through the Policy and Program this year has kept the project under high priority,” he said.

According to the government record, most of the compensation distribution for land acquisition for the project has been completed. Similarly, the detailed project report of the project has been prepared.

Dahal said most of the preliminary works including the feasibility study have been finalized. According to him, the government has now started work out to manage investments necessary for the project development.

A French company- Tactwell- had prepared the detailed project report of the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project in 2014.  Aiming to expedite the project, the government has set up Budhigandaki Hydropower Public Limited Company to start the construction works.  

A cabinet meeting held on April 7, 2022, had decided to build the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project with domestic investment by scrapping the license awarded to the Chinese company- China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC).

The storage project will be located in Dhading and Gorkha districts. The national pride project will have a total installed capacity of 1,200 megawatts.