A state-owned Nepali power company will develop the Himalayan country's biggest hydroelectric plant after the government scrapped a deal with a Chinese company, a government official said on Sunday. Nepal's cabinet scrapped a $2.5 billion deal with China Gezhouba Group Corp to build the Budhi Gangaki hydroelectric plant this month citing lapses in the award process. Nepal's giant neighbours China and India both vie for influence in the country and have been lobbying for infrastructure projects there. Soon after the China Gezhouba deal was scrapped, India's state-run power company NHPC Ltd expressed its interest in bidding for the project to build the 1,200 megawatt (MW) plant. Kathmandu has cleared a 750 MW project to be built on the West Seti River in the western part of the country by China's state-owned Three Gorges International Corp.

Source: Economic Times November 26, 2017 08:15 UTC