USAID-Funded Nepal Hydropower Development Project (NHDP)

Clause 4.1.1 of the PDA states that the GoN may delegate the management and administration of the Agreement to a PMU established by the GoN to monitor that the Company is carrying out the Project in accordance with the Agreement. The PMU for Arun-3 HPP is being set up under the Investment Board Nepal (IBN). The roles of the Arun-3 PMU include project progress monitoring, PDA compliance check, reporting, and project risk assessment. The PMU will be responsible for tracking project progress, monitoring compliance status, assessing project risk, and sending reports. The PMU will comprise several roles, including the IBN Board, IBN CEO, Arun-3 PMU, Technical Task Force, and Safeguard Task Force. The Technical Task Force will comprise experts from the engineering background who will monitor the engineering and commercial aspects of the project as per PDA requirements. The Safeguard Task Force will comprise experts from environmental, social, and legal backgrounds who will monitor the environmental, social, and legal aspects of the project as per PDA requirements. The PMU Dashboard is a tool that will support the PMU's operation. The Dashboard will enable the PMU to capture project data in specified formats and process the same to enable the PMU to track project progress, monitor compliance status, assess project risk, and send reports. The benefits of the PMU Dashboard include enabling the PMU and GoN to track project progress, check compliance status, and assess project risks, as well as facilitating PMU and GoN in reporting to various stakeholders about the project status. The PMU Dashboard will also enable the GoN to identify bottlenecks and analyze the same, making timely decisions to address the bottlenecks. The benefits to the GoN include monitoring, reporting, and facilitation support, as well as assisting the Developer to comply with the PDA obligations and alerting the PMU and GoN regarding project bottlenecks where the GoN's intervention is needed. The benefits to the Developer include facilitating project progress and PDA compliance. The PMU Dashboard will be an MS Excel-based tool that will support the PMU's operation. The Dashboard will enable the PMU to capture project data in specified formats and process the same to enable the PMU to track project progress, monitor compliance status, assess project risk, and send reports. The Dashboard will facilitate the PMU and GoN in reporting to various stakeholders about the project status, enabling the GoN to make timely decisions to address bottlenecks and mitigate project risk for the Developer.