Kathmandu, Feb. 20 -- Plans to build Nepal's biggest hydropower project was been delayed by politics for 10 years, but now it is on hold because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 263-m high dam on the Budi Gandaki River will be the world's tenth tallest, and impound a reservoir 45km long displacing 50,000 people, to generate 1.200MW of electricity. But the $2.5 billion project is in doubt because of delays and doubts about its viability.

The project, situated 60km northwest of Kathmandu, was supposed to be completed by 2022. It had been cancelled and revived several times by successive governments, but has been stuck for the past year because of the pandemic.

The China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC) was awarded the main construction con...