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Nepal is endowed with immense water resources. The average annual precipitation is approximately 1700 mm (80% of which occurs during the monsoon season - June to September). The total annual average run-off from the nation's 600 perennial rivers is over 200 billion m3.
Nepal's surface water resources are distributed among the river system of four major rivers (the Mahakali, the Karnali, the Gandaki, and the Kosi), seven medium rivers and a vast network of small rivers. All of the country's rivers drain into the Ganges. Nepal's rivers account for approximately 40% of the total flow of the Ganges and over 70% of its dry season flow.
The spatial and temporal distribution of water resources creates surpluses and deficits at certain times and places, mainly due to the lack of storage facilities. Nepal's storage potential is estimated at 88 billion m3. The theoretical hydropower potential is estimated at 83000 MW, of which 46000 MW is assumed technically viable. In 1999 93 dams had been identified and 66 of these were assessed as economically feasible for power generation. It is widely believed that through proper management Nepal's storage capacity could bring many benefits to the country and its neighbors including hydropower generation, flood control, flow manipulation for downstream irrigation, navigation and water supply.
The Government of Nepal has created a competitive and investment friendly environment by making the administrative procedures simple and easy and also providing attractive incentives and facilities to the foreign investors making Nepal one of the safest and suitable business destinations in the world.
The law of Nepal also assures the security of investments against nationalization. Besides this, Nepal being a member of Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) assures the foreign investors against non-commercial risks like currency transfer, breach of contract, war and civil disturbances in the country. As of July 2004, according to the statistics of foreign investment division of Department of Industry, there are about 905 foreign direct investment projects in Nepal that worth approximately US$ 1.65 billion. These projects in the sectors like Agriculture/Forestry; Manufacturing; Energy; Construction; Mineral; Tourism and other Service related industries have generated employment opportunities to almost 95,000 people in Nepal. India, USA, China, UK, Norway, Japan, South Korea and Germany are the leading countries with highest number of projects in Nepal. |
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