South Korea’s state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) said on Sunday it has completed the construction of a 30-megawatt hydroelectric power plant in Nepal, its first foreign project, nine years after it broke ground, the company said on Sunday.

The hydroelectric power plant, which is located in Dharchula, 950 kilometers northwest of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, will cover about 3 percent of the total power of the country, the company added.

Nepal is the first foreign country that KHNP has ever built a power plant with its technologies, and it broke ground for the hydroelectric power plant in the country in a consortium with Korea’s Hwachon Plant Construction and Sean Engineering & Construction in May 2009. Unlike its initial target to complete the construction by December 2011, it has taken nearly nine years to complete it due to disputes over the contract terms and difficult construction environment, the company explained.

Nepal is notorious for power shortages and outages, and most people living in Dharchula are still deprived of power supplies. The new hydroelectric power plant is expected to help meet some local electricity demand, according to KHNP.

By Ko Jae-man and Lee Ha-yeon

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