Nepal offers immense opportunity for investors in hydropower: president

KATHMANDU, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Saturday urged domestic and foreign investors to inject their capital in his country's hydropower to cash in on the immense opportunity provided by soaring demands of electricity in South Asian region.
"In Nepal and South Asia where rapid development is expected, demand for electricity is soaring. Hence, I reckon there is a good opportunity to invest in Nepal's hydropower sector," she said while addressing the Nepal Power Investment Summit 2018 which kicked-off in Kathmandu on Saturday.
The three-day summit has brought together Nepali policy makers, domestic power developers, multinational companies related to power sectors, international financiers and experts who will discuss investment opportunities in Nepal's power sector and find financiers for the "ready to go" projects as well, according to the organizer Energy Development Council (EDC).
President Bhandari said that hydropower development in the country is crucial for meeting Nepal's internal demand and exporting the surplus energy to the neighboring countries.
Pointing out the fact that Nepal has been able to develop just around 1,000 MW of the electricity in more than a century despite having immense potential of generating 83,000 MW of electricity from its water resources, President Bhandari said this has left a lot of room for investors to harness Nepal's water resources and take benefit.
On the occasion, EDC chairperson Sujit Acharya said Nepal has the potential of generating 40,000MW electricity in the next 10 years.
"The resources needed for harnessing hydropower to that level could be available from the international financing institutions under Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing modality," he said.
Around 100 participants from 30 international companies and over 400 participants from Nepal including policymakers and the private sector are participating in the summit.