Baburam Bhattarai-led Naya Shakti Nepal has said that the decision of Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government to award the contract to construct Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project to China’s Gezhouba Group Corporation was against the nation’s interest.

Issuing a statement on Thursday, the party criticised the government arguing that the decision to hand over the contract to construct 1200 MW project to the Chinese company was condemnable.

Bhattarai, who is also a former Prime Minister, said that the government awarded the project to the Chinese company like a blank cheque.

The party has also demanded that the government immediately scrap the agreement signed with the Chinese company.

The government on June 4 had signed a contract agreement of the project with the Chinese company.

Energy Minister Janardan Sharma and a representative from the Chinese company had signed the agreement paper for the construction of 1200MW project.

A Cabinet meeting on May 23 had approved the Energy Ministry’s proposal in principle to let the Chinese company build the 1,200 MW project under the engineering, procurement, construction and finance (EPCF) model of project development.