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dam-l LS: Enron to get Nepal dam survey license

>
>Sunday May 2, 5:59 am
>Eastern Time
>
>INTERVIEW-Enron to get
>Nepal survey licence
>
>By Gopal Sharma
>
>KATHMANDU, May 2 (Reuters) - Nepal will give U.S. energy group Enron Corp
>(ENE - news) a licence to conduct a survey for a hydro-electric power plant
>after the general election which lasts for two weeks starting on Monday.
>
>``We will given them the survey licence after May 17,'' Water resources and
>Health minister Pradeep Nepal told Reuters on Sunday in an interview. ``We
>have sent a letter requesting them to wait until May 17.''
>
>He said the outgoing centre-left coalition government had decided to give
>Enron permission to investigate the construction of a dam on the Karnali
>river in western Nepal to generate electricity for export.
>
>The current cabinet cannot announce major decisions under a code of conduct
>designed to avoid influencing the outcome of the election.
>
>``We have already agreed that whichever government comes to power after the
>election, Enron should be awarded the licence,'' said Nepal.
>
>Pradeep Nepal belongs to the Communist United Marxist-Leninist (UML) party,
>one of three parties in the ruling coalition.
>
>Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's Nepali Congress party and the UML are
>close contestants in the election, which is widely expected to throw up a
>splintered parliament.
>
>In April last year, Enron withdrew its 1996 plan to build a dam on the
>Karnali river in western Nepal to produce hydroelectric power for export to
>India and China, citing an uncertain power market.
>
>Nepali officials suspect it pulled out because of delays in approving the
>project.
>
>Enron returned in January this year after Koirala invited it back again.
>
>The Enron study is expected to decide on the project's generating capacity;
>whether it should be 3,000 megawatts or the maximum possible of 10,800
>megawatts. The larger version would produce electricity for export to India
>and cost about $6 billion.
>
>Nepali political parties say Kathmandu should press New Delhi to pay for
>irrigation, navigation and flood control.
>
>Nepal has the potential to produce up to 83,000 MW of hydro-power, but it
>has tapped only 300 MW so far and barely 15 percent of its population has
>access to electricity.
>
>Officials say the export of electricity is the only hope of narrowing the
>kingdom's widening trade gap with India, which was $294.2 million in 1997/98
>(mid-July to mid-July).
>
>-------------------------
>More Quotes and News: Enron Corp (NYSE:ENE - news)
>Related News Categories: oil/energy, US Market News, utilities
>-------------------------
>
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>      Glenn Switkes, Director, Latin America Program,
>           International Rivers Network
>              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
>                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
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