Proceeds from the sale of hydropower to India will increase by around half a billion after the loan repayment for the 60-megawatt Kurichhu hydropower project expires next year.
The hydropower sector including Tala, Kurichhu, Basochhu and Chhukha earn an annual average gross revenue of Rs 10 B.
After paying of the loans taken to build them, the economy is left with Rs 7B to be used for development activity.
Around Rs 3 billion is paid as loans to the government of India annually.
This amount will be reduced to Rs 2.6B and net proceeds from the sale of hydropower will increase to Rs 7.4B annually after Kurichhu’s loan is paid off next year.
Kurichhu hydropower project was built at a total cost of Nu 5.6B and it started repaying its loans since July 2004. Commercial operation started in 2001. It was built with 60 percent grant and 40 percent loan.
While Kurichhu’s loan repayment expires January next year, loan repayment for the 1,020 MW Tala hydropower project will expire December 2018 by which time, Mangdechhu hydropower project is expected to be commissioned.
Loans for the Chhukha hydropower project had already been paid off in 2007.
In 2014, the four hydropower plants with an installed capacity of 1,480 megawatt earned Rs 10.6B. The four existing hydropower projects generated over 7,197 million units of energy.
