The Bhutanese and Indian governments signed an inter-governmental agreement on the construction of four new hydropower projects in the country. The Economic Affairs’ Secretary, Dasho Sonam Tshering, and the Ministry of Power’s Secretary, P.K. Sinha, signed the agreement in Thimphu, today.
The four projects; 600 MW Kholongchu, 570 MW Wangchhu, 770 MW Chamkharchhu and the 180 MW Bunakhachu, are a joint venture.
A public sector company from Bhutan and India will execute the work. From the Bhutanese side, the Druk Green Power Corporation will take up the venture.
The Economic Affairs Minister, Norbu Wangchuk, said the four joint venture projects together would put in place a capacity of more than 2,000 MW project. “This is about 20 percent of our 10,000 Megawatt initiative.”
Three more hydroelectric projects are scheduled to be commissioned by 2018. The cost of the projects, including the latter three, is expected to be about Nu. 94 BN.
The implementation of the 600 MW Kholongchhu hydroelectric project will be initiated shortly.
