The government of Nepal has awarded two power projects – the 750MW West Seti and 450MW Seti River 6 schemes – to India’s state-owned National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC), India’s ETNow news site reports.

The combined cost of the projects is $2.4bn.

The agreement follows a period of limbo for the projects after two Chinese companies on two occasions withdrew from them after signing memoranda of understanding with the Nepalese government, says ETNow.

The NHPC will begin with a two-year project study before starting construction work, ETNow reports, citing Nepalese media.

Another Indian company, SJVN, is already developing a 900MW project in Nepal and was awarded another 679MW project last year there. Indian firm GMR is also working on the Upper Karnali Hydro Electricity project.