Doosan (000150) will provide $5 million to help address large-scale flood damage in Nepal, while Doosan Enerbility (034020) said it would help family members of affected employees travel to the site.
Doosan said on the 27th that it is providing $5 million in emergency aid to Rasuwa, the Nepalese district hit by the flooding. The funds will go toward search, rescue and other recovery operations.
Nine South Korean employees of Doosan Enerbility and Korea Southern Power remain unaccounted for at the construction site of the Upper Trishuli-1 (UT-1) hydropower plant in Rasuwa, a project for which Doosan Enerbility serves as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor. Six of them work for Doosan Enerbility — five South Korean nationals and one dual citizen married to a South Korean — while the remaining three are employees of Korea Southern Power.
Doosan Enerbility initially reported that 20 South Korean employees were assigned to the site, that 15 were present when the disaster struck and that five could not be reached. It later confirmed that a dual Nepalese-South Korean citizen was also out of contact.
"We hope this will help speed up recovery efforts in the face of a sudden large-scale disaster," a Doosan official said.
Doosan Enerbility extended its support to the families of workers at the site. "If families wish to travel to Nepal, we intend to actively support them, and we are currently gathering their views," a Doosan Enerbility official said.
The company has activated an emergency response headquarters to assess conditions on the ground and has dispatched a response team of seven to eight people to Nepal, led by CEO Chung In-young. The Nepalese government has deployed a rescue force made up of army and police personnel and is conducting search operations, and the response team plans to work with local authorities to draw up specific rescue plans.
"We will work closely with the relevant authorities and parties involved and do everything we can to support the rescue of the employees we have been unable to reach," the CEO said.
Korea Southern Power has also sent a response team to support operations at the Nepal site. "It appears that more than 90% of the upper dam section has been washed away, and the base camp where construction personnel were staying has also been about 90% destroyed," said Yoon Jang-hyun, head of the company's new growth division.
The UT-1 hydropower plant is the first privately financed power project undertaken by a South Korean company in Nepal. It is being built along the Trishuli River, about 70 kilometers north of Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital. Total project cost is $647 million, with a construction period of five years.
Korea Southern Power and the Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation (KIND) are among the main shareholders. Korea Southern Power plans to operate the plant directly for 30 years after completion, and once commercial operation begins the facility will supply about 20% of Nepal's total electricity.
