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dam-l Enron Quits Nepal Mega-Dam
> Enron pulls out of giant power project in Nepal
>
> REUTERS@ Reut10:00 04-13-98
>
> (13 Apr 1998 09:59 EDT)
>
> KATHMANDU, Nepal (Reuters) - Enron Corp. has withdrawn its application
>for a hydropower project in Nepal which was to have involved investment of
>up to $6.0 billion, a senior government official said Monday.
>
> ``They have withdrawn their application for survey license,'' a senior
>official of the Water Resources Ministry told Reuters.
>
> However, the official quoted Enron as saying that it would continue to
>monitor the power market and might reconsider the project at a later date.
>
> ``After reviewing the power and financial market ... we withdraw our
>application for survey license,'' the ministry official, who asked not to
>be identified, quoted Enron as telling the Nepali government.
>
> In 1996, the Enron Renewable Energy Corp. had proposed building a dam on
>the Karnali river in western Nepal to produce a maximum of 10,800
>megawatts of hydropower for export to India and China.
>
> The Houston-based company had applied to the government for a survey
>license for the plant, which was to be among the world's biggest and would
>have taken several years to build.
>
> Enron had also planned to build transmission lines across the Himalayas
>to supply power to China. The plant was to have been handed over to Nepal
>after 50 years.
>
> Analysts said the move could be a blow to Nepal, which has been wooing
>foreign investment to lift its sagging economy.
>
> In August 1995, the World Bank abandoned plans to lend $175 million for
>the $1 billion Arun III hydroelectric project in eastern Nepal, saying
>that the Himalayan kingdom needed to focus on smaller and less ambitious
>power plants on its many rivers.
>
> Nepal's numerous rivers cascading from the snow-covered Himalayas have a
>combined potential for generating up to 83,000 megawatts of power.