KATHMANDU, Feb 3: A bid by Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Limited (UTKHPL) to line up a competent management team has been stalled for now as only two international companies applied with expression of interest (EOI) by the time the deadline expired on Wednesday afternoon.
Australia´s Snowy Mountain and Engineering Corporation (SMEC) and Fichtner Engineering and Consulting Services of Germany were the only companies to express interest in the bidding process, which needs to have at least three applicants to be valid as per the Public Procurement Act 2007.
"We will now take the issue to the board," said Project Director and Officiating Chief Executive Officer Mrigendra Bahadur Shrestha. "The board can either extend the deadline or annul the process," said Chief Officer of the Employees´ Provident Fund (EPF) Radha Krishna Pote, who is a member of the sub-committee for conducting the bidding process. EPF is providing Rs 10 billion in loan for the Rs 35.29 billion project.
Project Director Shrestha said the board can also simplify the requirements for applicants to attract more of them, as an alternative to extending the deadline. UTKHPL had published an advertisement in The Economist magazine on January 15, making it the first public sector hydroelectricity project in the country to seek an international management team. The loan agreement with the EPF stipulated a competent management team comprising national/international firms or individuals appointed through global competition.
Fichtner, the German firm, had earlier worked for the 70 MW Mid-Marsyangdi project as a consultant while SMEC is a major promoter of the 750 MW West Seti Hydropower Project.
The 456 MW Upper Tamakoshi project to be constructed in Lamabagar, Dolakha district had caused controversy after the Ministry of Energy appointed Dr Arjun Karki as its executive chairman on August 6, 2010 in contravention of the loan agreement. Energy Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat had then scrapped Karki´s appointment and the Supreme Court upheld the minister´s decision on September 3, ensuring that the loan agreement would be complied with.
The function for laying the project foundation stone, scheduled to be done by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on January 27, was postponed just three days earlier, apparently due to Maoist resistance.
The daily peaking run-of-the-river project will be the largest hydropower project in the country when it comes into operation and will provide 456 MW for four hours a day even during dry season.
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