Govt free to execute pact with Chinese co

KATHMANDU, APR 23 -

The government is free to implement the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed with China Three Gorges International Cooperation for development of the West Seti Hydropower Project as the Supreme Court (SC) has not issued any stay order.

The SC ruled on Sunday that it was not necessary to issue a stay order against the (MoU). A division bench of Justices Kalyan Shrestha and Bharat Bahadur Karki stated that since the required order and directives would be made during the final hearing of the writ, it was not necessary to issue an interim order as sought by the petitioner.

According to the joint spokesperson of the apex court Hemanta Rawal, the government can proceed with the project as the bench did not issue a stay order.

Earlier in March, advocate Santosh Basnet had moved the court against the hydropower agreement arguing that the Nepal government had failed to rectify the proposal of a two-thirds majority as required by law. 

The Ministry of Energy had signed a pact with the Chinese developer on Feb 29 in a bid to move the West Seti Project ahead as it has been held up for 17 years for various reasons.

The parliamentary Natural Resource and Means Committee (NRMC) began a probe into the MoU signing suspecting something was amiss.

After nearly two weeks of study, the committee gave the nod on April 1 to continue with the project bringing it under the purview of the Investment Board led by the prime minister.

The committee has also recommended to the government to review the MoU ensuring the maximum benefits possible to the country.

West Seti has remained pending as Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation, the company which was originally granted the license to execute it, could not put together the required investment.

Source: The Kathmandu Post