Companies from China and Nepal on Tuesday reached an initial agreement to form a joint venture (JV) to build a hydropower project in midwestern Nepal, marking a breakthrough in the negotiations for the project that started a few years ago, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and China Three Gorges Corp (CTGC) initialed an agreement that is still pending endorsement by the boards of both companies for the 750-megawatt West Seti Hydropwer project, the Xinhua report said.
NEA and a subsidiary of CTGC signed a memorandum of understanding in 2012 to develop the project. That document stated that the Chinese company will hold a 75 percent stake in the JV, according to Xinhua.
But the large scale of the project, requiring environmental surveys and a huge amount of investment, might mean the project has been stalled, according to Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University.
"Overseas energy projects tend to take long time to complete, so this is normal," Lin told the Global Times, adding the project is mutually beneficial as both sides seek to develop clean energy projects.
