Kathmandu, Aug. 21 -- Nearly a decade ago, the Nepal Electricity Authority faced severe financial strain and was on the brink of unsustainability caused by high overheads, generation losses, massive debt accumulation and administrative malpractices.

At the same time, the country was reeling under a severe power crisis as the shortage of power was around 500 MW a day in the dry season, and outages lasted up to 16 hours even in the Capital.

With increasing imports adding an extra cash burden, the utility was also not able to generate sufficient money from business operations which was imperative to repay its local and foreign debts and fund new projects.

Mired in the situation, the power utility, with the recommendation of a ministerial ...