Unauthorized Expenditure of Rs 6 Billion in Upper Tamakoshi; Former NEA MD Ghising and Top Officials Implicated

Approximately Rs 6 billion has been found to be spent unauthorizedly in the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project, a national pride project. This revelation follows the submission of a report by an investigation committee probing the haphazard release of funds under Civil Lot-1 without the formal approval of the board of directors. The confidential report, submitted on Shrawan 8, implicates several high-ranking officials, including the former Managing Director of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising.

Following the exposure of this financial irregularity, stakeholders allege that the NEA and company directors have initiated a damage control operation. Despite the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) position remaining vacant for an extended period, the 375th board meeting has been hastily convened. While the official agenda cites the approval of the budget and financial statements for the fiscal year 2081/82, public shareholders suspect a covert attempt to formally endorse the questionable expenditures.

The project currently bears a massive debt burden of approximately Rs 68 billion. Amidst this, about Rs 4 billion of the company's funds have been invested in the Khimti Substation—which is entirely owned by the NEA—without any clear legal framework or guaranteed financial returns to the company. Furthermore, retail investors have grown increasingly frustrated after the NEA directly assumed control of the 'Tamakoshi-5' cascade project, which was originally slated to be developed under Upper Tamakoshi.

Similar financial opacity has been observed in the 21 MW Rolwaling Khola Hydropower Project. While the standard construction cost for such projects generally ranges from Rs 200 million to Rs 250 million per megawatt, the cost for Rolwaling has unnaturally escalated to between Rs 550 million and Rs 600 million per megawatt. This abnormal cost inflation is expected to severely undermine the project's financial returns, directly victimizing hundreds of thousands of retail investors who purchased shares at premium prices in the secondary market. These actions have raised serious questions regarding the corporate governance of the project.