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Nepal: Review of Hydropower Projects

The World Bank has received a request from the Government of Nepal for technical assistance to the Investment Board, Government of Nepal to review four large hydropower projects: (i) 650 MW Tamakoshi; (ii) 900 MW Upper Karnali; (iii) 600 MW Upper Marshyangdi, and (iv) 900 MW Arun III. All these projects are primarily export oriented, will negotiate and enter into Power Purchase Agreement with international off-takers, and have private developers identified by the Government. All these projects have received survey licenses for development from the Government. Developers for these four projects have completed detailed feasibility studies and submitted the reports to the Investment Board for review and requested to move to the next stage of project development process - negotiation and signing of a Project Development Agreement (PDA). 

The Nepal Investment Board was established by the Nepalese Parliament through the Investment Board Act 2011 and is given the mandate to fast-track mega infrastructural projects, including signing PDAs for hydropower projects above 500 MW by facilitating efficient investors services through a one-window mechanism.

The Investment Board needs to review these feasibility study reports to assess legal, economic, financial as well as technical issues (including environmental and social issues) related to these projects. The Investment Board has international legal advisors and management consulting advisors funded by an international donor. The Investment Board now needs additional technical assistance in reviewing the technical, economic and financial areas of these projects, in coordination with its in-house advisors.

In response to the Government request, the World Bank will provide technical assistance to the Investment Board, through hiring of a firm or a consortium to provide consulting services for review of the technical areas of the four detailed feasibility reports. The objective of the assignment is to (i) assess and advise on the Investment Board on the technical readiness of the four projects, including assessment of alternatives, to proceed with finalization of legal and financing documents leading to project implementation; and (ii) assess and advice on gaps in the current state of project preparation and additional work, if any, needed to bring each project to the technical readiness as described above.

At this stage the Bank is looking for a world leading engineering firm in hydropower offering expertise in but not limited to: dams design and general layout planning, hydrology and hydraulics, underground works, geology and geotechnical engineering, sediment management, seismic engineering, dam safety, electric and mechanical engineering, environmental and social impact assessment and mitigation planning, risk management, cost estimation and scheduling, economic and financial assessment, etc. Once selected, the firm will be provided with electronic versions of all the feasibility study reports, and is expected to review the documents both in home office and in Nepal, visit the project sites in Nepal, and interact and work with various stakeholders in Nepal, with full support of the Investment Board and the World Bank. The firm will work closely with the in-house advisors of the Investment Board to support the work in economic and financial areas as needed. The firm shall report to the Investment Board on its technical work and outputs under close supervision from the World Bank. Intensive work is expected in early 2013.

This is a high profile task with significant development impacts and importance to the Government of Nepal and the World Bank. Hence high quality outputs are expected from the firm or consortium selected. Firms are advised to carefully review their human resources available for this assignment and replacing of team member(s) after contract signing will be strictly controlled. 

The Investment Board and the Government of Nepal will likely need continued technical assistance in enforcing all the legally-binding technical (including environmental and social) requirements in line with the PDA to be signed, monitoring and assessing the performance of the project implementation in the future process of project development. 

Any firm, which has already engaged in service to these four projects from the developers side, is advised to review carefully the World Bank procurement guidelines to assess whether it will face a conflict of interest issue for this assignment if the firm is interested in this assignment. 

You are invited to indicate your interest in providing these consultancy services. Expression of Interests (EOI) should include a summary of firm profile and capability; concise description of relevant experience for the task; and short biographies of staff who will be working on this assignment. EOIs are strictly limited to 20 pages in length including all attachments. 

The consulting firm or consortium will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the World Banks Administrative Manual 15.01: Selection and Use of Consultants by the World Bank Group for Operational Purposes, dated May, 2010.

Please submit your EOIs to World Bank Groups E-Consult System - www.worldbank.org/wbgeconsultant by Saturday October 27, 2012. In case of any difficulty accessing the system or to obtain any clarifications regarding the assignment, you may contact Jie Tang, Lead Energy Specialist (E-mail: jtang@worldbank.org, Tel: +1 202-473-5136).