Government promises not kept for Hongshi Shivam Cement

Nepal's Government has come up short in respect to keeping its word on infrastructure and energy promises to the Chinese Hongshi Shivam Cement Co, according to a report in the Nepali Times.

The Nepalese government signed a foreign direct investment (FDI) deal with the cement producer in 2017 to help establish its cement plant with a local partner. However, the government failed to build the road to the plant and erect a transmission line.

Hongshi Shivam Cement constructed its own dirt track as the government did not tarmac the road or build the bridges it had agreed to. Another 12km road had to be built by the cement producer to the limestone quarry. Hongshi Shivam Cement says it spent NPR1.2bn (US$10.75m) to build the roads the government had promised.

In addition, the Nepal Electricity Authority has not yet built the 21-pylon transmission line from the Bardaghat substation to supply 40MW of power fro the grid the cement plant. Hongshi Shivam has had to rely on diesel-thermal captive power plants.

Although the cement manufacturer has a licence to produce 12,000tpd of cement, the lack of electricity supply has cut its output to 5000tpd, said Liu Xuguwang, Hongshi Shivam Cement's plant manager.