Ghising likely to be reinstated in Chilime as govt decision backfires

ShareSansar, July 20:

The government is likely to reinstate the Managing Director of Chilime Hydropower Company Kulman Ghising within a day or two following intense protest from the locals of the sites of the Chilime hydropower project and its four subsidiaries as well as major stakeholders in the company against the decision to recall him.

A highly placed source at the company said that they have received indications from the Ministry of Energy that Ghising will be reinstated, especially in the wake of threat from the locals, who had brought all the construction and day-to-day activities at all the project sites, to even shut down the power house of Chilime project if he is not reinstated immediately.

“Shutting down of the power house will have immediate impact on the national power grid – not to mention the fact that the activities at the projects that have come to a grinding halt,” the source told ShareSansar. “The agitators, including the staff of the Chilime project, have not shut down the power house – only due to the request of Ghising not to do so. The government is in a fix.”

An official with the Ministry of Energy said that Minister Radha Gyawali, secretary and other high-ranking officials were holding series of meeting today to discuss Ghising’s case owing to growing pressure from different quarters against the move to recall him.

“He may as well be reinstated if we look at the track record,” the officer added.
Around a year ago, when then Energy Minister Umakanta Jha was forced to roll back his decision to recall Ghising to the NEA following strong protests from within NEA, especially its trade unions and the locals of project site in Rasuwa.

This time around when the trade unions of Employees Provident Fund (EPF), which is the major financer of Chilime and its subsidiaries, are up in arms against the government decision to remove Ghising from Chilime.

Another immediate major impact of removal of Ghising from Chilime has been the price of the company's scrip, CHCL, has dropped significantly in the stock market, and it has also dragged the entire hydropower sub index down despite the bullish trend in other sub groups.

Meanwhile, after padlocking the site offices of Chilime (22 MW), and subsidiaries Sanhen (42 MW) and Upper Sanjen (14 MW, and haling construction work on two projects (11MW Rasuwagadi and 103MW Bhotekohsi III) for an indefinite period, the agitators are also planning to shut down entire Rasuwa district from tomorrow to mount pressure on the government to roll back its decision.

Ghising, who is considered the architect of the famed ‘Chilime model’ for development of very efficient and profitable hydropower projects, was recalled last week to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) that holds 51 percent of Chilime’s stake, citing that his four-year tenure has expired.

But CHCL sources told ShareSansar that Ghising had received “an open-ended offer letter” when he assigned to lead Chilime.

“Moreover Chilime is a huge public company with billions of rupees worth of stake of the public, and it has its own Board of Directors,” said the highly placed source in the company. “How can recall him without even consulting Chilime’s board? It smells rats. ”

When approached by ShareSansar Ghising only said, “It does not matter who leads Chilime. But they got to ensure that the Chilime model is not affected. Otherwise, it would be a great injustice to the public as well as the projects.”

He also confirmed that he had received an open-ended appointment letter, which did not specify the term of his tenure.

NEA, however, insists that he was called back after his tenure expired on June 19, 2014.

One of the major shareholders of Chilime, Gyanendra Lal Pradhan said that shareholders protest the government decision to recall Ghising from the Chilime as it will affect not just Chilime but its subsidiary projects under construction.

“It will take a long time for the new Managing Director to understand what is going on in the projects,” said Pradhan, who is also a noted industrialist. “Moreover, removing the leader who was developing the projects in the middle of the projects for no fault of his is not a wise move. He must be allowed to continue until at least the completion of the upcoming four projects.”