NC MUL mellow out on west seti deal

Kathamandu march  21
The opposition parties Nepali congress and CPN - UML have sofrened their stance and spoken in favour of allowing the china Three Georges International Corporation to go ahead with the construction of the 750 MW West Seti Hydroelectricity project. The parties said the project may begin immediately after the Ministry of Energy comes up with a  satisfactory response on the technical legal and financial aspects of the palan.
We have no qualms about the Wwst seti project going ahead but we want to know more of more of some issues of the deal . The construction can take pace afrer the ministry comes up with a satisfactory response , NC leader Laxman Ghimire a member of  a committee formed to probe the agreement said.
On Tuesday the ministry submitted the original copy of the Memorandum of Understanding singned berween the company and the ministry to the probe committee. However the ministray is yet to answer 16 queries sent by the cpmmittee. The deadline for the ministry to submit its response ends on Wadnesday. We will take a decision as soon as the ministry responds Ghimire said.
The UML which has been facing criticism for strongly opposing the construction of the arun 3 hydroelectricity project in 1994 that was expected to generete 402 MW of electricity is also in favour of timely implementation of the agreement berween the govrnment and Three Georges.
UML leaders said the party has realised that it must not let the case of arun III happen again and not be blamed further for any delay in the construction of development projects in the country .
some leaders including Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal and  former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey are stressing on construction of the project to addrss the ever increasing energy crisis The UML is in favour of national interests and the project should be constructed Panday said .
According to UML soureces , though the party's Chief of the Department of Natural Resources Management Pradeep Neapal had initially demanded the contract for the project be awarded to a company through a bidding process he later agreed to the deal with Three Gorges.
Other UML leaders who were against the deal also sofrened their stance afrer they were told that there was an understanding among senior leaders to award the contract to the Chinese company.