KATHMANDU, July 26: The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) approved nine projects worth Rs 271.26 billion in the last fiscal year.
Submitting its annual report to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Thursday, the IBN unveiled the progress report of the big projects. Out of the nine projects that it approved in fiscal year 2023/24, eight were related to hydropower generation.
According to the IBN, the Upper Karnali Hydroelectric Project was the largest in terms of investment volume approved during the review period. The hydropower project with a capacity to generate 900 MW of electricity, will be injecting investment of Rs 162.49 billion.
The Super Tamor Hydropower Project with investment of Rs 34.59 billion stood second in terms of investment. The project is set to produce 166 MW of electricity.
Similarly, the IBN gave the go ahead to a 250 MW solar energy project to be installed in Kohalpur and Banganga area. The project has earmarked an investment of Rs 21.10 billion.
Likewise, the 42 MW Upper Modi A Hydroelectric Project has pledged to invest Rs 10.08 billion. Among the approved projects by the IBN, the 49.95 MW Dana Khola Hydropower Project will be investing Rs 9.68 billion and the 44.52 MW Sani Bheri Hydroelectric Project will be investing Rs 9.46 billion.
Among others, Chhujung Khola Hydropower Project with capacity of 63 MW will be investing Rs 9.30 billion and Rolwaling Khola Hydroelectric Project with capacity of 22 MW has proposed to inject capital of Rs 7.93 billion. In the review period, the IBN gave approval to Huaxin Cement to inject additional investment of Rs 6.63 billion in its production plant.
The board was formed in 2011 with an objective of dealing with potential foreign investors for large projects with investments worth more than Rs 10 billion and hydropower projects with capacity of 500 MW or more. Later on, the government became flexible allowing it to look into projects with fixed capital of Rs 6 billion or more and the hydropower projects with capacity of 200 MW at minimum.
According to the IBN, it gave approval to five projects which proposed to install their production plants with an investment of Rs 167.59 billion in FY 2022/23. All of these projects were related to hydropower generation with a total capacity to produce 954.3 MW of electricity.
Meanwhile, the IBN has reported that Arun III Hydropower Project posted 75 percent progress in generation work while achieving 38.21 percent progress in transmission lines by the end of FY 2023/24.
In the review period, the preliminary study report for installing chemical fertilizer was prepared by DIAG Industries GmgH, Germany. The developers of West Seti and Seti River-6 Hydropower Projects submitted the detailed project report to the IBN.
Likewise, the IBN has brought into operation the Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) Dashboard/Project Monitoring Tool since the last fiscal year. The digital system is expected to make monitoring of the approved projects more effective.