Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendera Modi ji and Hon’ble Prime Minister of Nepal, Shri K.P. Sharma Oli ji jointly laid the Foundation Stone of SJVN’s 900 MW Arun-3 Hydro Electric Project at Kathmandu. The project is located on River Arun in Sunkhuwashabha District of Nepal.

Sh. Nand Lal Sharma Chairman & Managing Director of SJVN informed that the project is being executed by SJVN through its wholly owned subsidiary namely SJVN Arun-3 Power Development Company (SAPDC). This project has been allocated to SJVN based on International Competitive Bidding (ICB) by Government of Nepal (GoN) in March, 2008. Memorandum of Understanding for execution of Arun-3 project was signed between Government of Nepal and SJVN on 02.03.2008.

Sh. Sharma CMD, SJVN further told that the Arun-3 Hydro Electric Project in Nepal is a peaking run-of-river project located on the Arun River in Sankhuwasabha District of Province 1 in Eastern Nepal. This is an export-oriented project with a generation capacity of 900 MW.  The height of Dam will be 70 metres while the Head Race Tunnel will be 11.7 kilometre long. The Power House of the project will be underground consisting of 4 Vertical Francis Turbines of 225 MW each. Arun-3 project has the potential to generate 4018.87 million units of electricity every year. The project also involves erection of 217 kilometre long 400 KV Double Circuit Transmission Line up to Nepal-India Border.

Sh. Sharma CMD, SJVN informed that the project was awarded to SJVN Limited on build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis for a period of 30 years. Sh. Sharma told that the total project cost is likely to be INR 7000 crores (NPR 11,200 crores), which includes both generation and transmission part.

Sh. Sharma stated that SJVN already has requisite expertise to construct and commission Mega Hydro Projects and has already commissioned India’s Largest 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station and 412 MW Rampur Hydro Power Station in challenging Himalayan Geology. For implementation of Arun-3 Project, the four major contracts have already been awarded.

The construction of the project would lead to all round development of the area and would assist in upliftment of socio-economic levels of the people living in and around project area. The project activities also boost the development of new roads, bridges and other amenities like healthcare, education etc. In addition to this, a total of 269 Project Affected Families (PAFs) will get 30 units each of electricity free of cost every month. The project will usher an era of prosperity and development for the area and will certainly cement the bilateral ties of brotherhood among two traditionally friendly countries.

Sh. Sharma asserted that the project will be an important milestone in the history of SJVN Limited which already is operating four power projects in the country with a capacity of 1965 MW. The company’s other  future projects include 10 Hydro Power Projects with a capacity of 3218 MW ( 7 projects of 1148 MW capacity in India and 3 Projects of  2070 MW capacity in neighboring countries), 1320 MW Thermal Power Project at Buxar in Bihar and 50 MW Wind Power Project at Sadla in Gujarat.