Bhotekoshi Power Company has agreed to allot 6 percent shares to locals, ending a standoff that had prevented repair work at flood-damaged Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project from being conducted effectively immobilizing the plant.
Construction and maintenance of the transmission towers at the 45 MW project, which had been toppled by floods in August, resumed on Thursday morning following the deal between the project developer Bhotekoshi Power Company and representatives of five major political parties of Sindhupalchok district.
Apart from 6 percent of the stock, the company will give Rs 2.25 million each to two project-affected village development committees (VDC), Tatopani and Fulpingkatti. Seven other project-affected VDCs, Marming, Gati, Maneshwara, Ramche, Dhuskun, Tekanpur and Pangretar, will jointly receive Rs 2.25 million. The payments will be given on an annual basis. According to the company, the shares will be distributed at the face value of Rs 100 per share. The deal between the company and the political parties was made public in the presence of prominent leaders and district representatives of the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, UCPN (Maoist), Rastriya
Prajatantra Party (RPP) and CPN-Maoist. Both the sides stated that the agreement marked a new beginning for the project and that with locals getting a stake in the project, there wouldn’t be many issues in the days to come.
“Though 6 percent of the stock is less than what we had demanded, we are happy that the people will now own a part of the project,” CPN-UML leader Amrit Kumar Bohora said. “The project was constructed at a time when people were not aware like they are now. The context has changed now, hence, the issue over shares should not be hyped negatively.”
Similarly, NC leader Mohan Basnet said that the incident hadn’t established a negative precedence, rather it had made it possible for a company operating for almost one and a half decades to give ownership to locals. “Since the people will now have a share, there won’t be any problems from their side,” Basnet said.
Chairman of Bhotekoshi Power Company Siddhartha SJB Rana said that the interest of the investors as well as the locals had been taken in account while making the agreement.
“This might set a right precedence, and since such issues will be taken care of from now on, other projects might not suffer in a similar manner,” Rana added.
Project manager Narendra Prajapati said that since there was no legal procedure for a private company to issue shares, an appropriate legal mechanism would be worked out, and that the shares would be given to a company representing the residents of Sindhupalchok.
Once the project starts feeding energy to the national grid, load-shedding in Kathmandu will be slashed by one hour.
source: the kathmandu post,26 dec 2014
LINK
Construction and maintenance of the transmission towers at the 45 MW project, which had been toppled by floods in August, resumed on Thursday morning following the deal between the project developer Bhotekoshi Power Company and representatives of five major political parties of Sindhupalchok district.
Apart from 6 percent of the stock, the company will give Rs 2.25 million each to two project-affected village development committees (VDC), Tatopani and Fulpingkatti. Seven other project-affected VDCs, Marming, Gati, Maneshwara, Ramche, Dhuskun, Tekanpur and Pangretar, will jointly receive Rs 2.25 million. The payments will be given on an annual basis. According to the company, the shares will be distributed at the face value of Rs 100 per share. The deal between the company and the political parties was made public in the presence of prominent leaders and district representatives of the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, UCPN (Maoist), Rastriya
Prajatantra Party (RPP) and CPN-Maoist. Both the sides stated that the agreement marked a new beginning for the project and that with locals getting a stake in the project, there wouldn’t be many issues in the days to come.
“Though 6 percent of the stock is less than what we had demanded, we are happy that the people will now own a part of the project,” CPN-UML leader Amrit Kumar Bohora said. “The project was constructed at a time when people were not aware like they are now. The context has changed now, hence, the issue over shares should not be hyped negatively.”
Similarly, NC leader Mohan Basnet said that the incident hadn’t established a negative precedence, rather it had made it possible for a company operating for almost one and a half decades to give ownership to locals. “Since the people will now have a share, there won’t be any problems from their side,” Basnet said.
Chairman of Bhotekoshi Power Company Siddhartha SJB Rana said that the interest of the investors as well as the locals had been taken in account while making the agreement.
“This might set a right precedence, and since such issues will be taken care of from now on, other projects might not suffer in a similar manner,” Rana added.
Project manager Narendra Prajapati said that since there was no legal procedure for a private company to issue shares, an appropriate legal mechanism would be worked out, and that the shares would be given to a company representing the residents of Sindhupalchok.
Once the project starts feeding energy to the national grid, load-shedding in Kathmandu will be slashed by one hour.
source: the kathmandu post,26 dec 2014
LINK
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