Indian power company NHPC LtdBSE -0.19 % could bid for a $2.5 billion hydropower project in Nepal, its chairman told Reuters, after Kathmandu cancelled a deal with China Gezhouba Group Corp.
China and India jostle for influence over infrastructure projects in Nepal and the deal with China was scrapped after it was criticised for being handed to the company without any competitive bidding.
State-run NHPC could look at developing what will be the country’s biggest hydropower plant, its Chairman Balraj Joshi told Reuters.
“It is too early to talk about funding as firstly the techno-economical parameters of the project would have to be studied,” Joshi said on Friday.
With elections in Nepal scheduled to begin later this month, the project is not likely to be discussed by the governments anytime soon, a senior power ministry official said.