Two companies are in the running to buy majority shares in the Butwal Power Company (BPC), a company the government has been trying to privatise for the last two years. The companies vying for 75 percent of BPC shares are the Norwegian developer Interkraft and the Anglo-American company, Independent Power Company (IPC). Interkraft's local partner is the Jyoti Group while IPC is being promoted by the Chaudhary Group. Four other companies had purchased the tender documents but did not bid in the end. Interkraft and IPC will make their financial bids after their technical proposals are evaluated and approved.

Bidding documents for the BPC were first prepared in November 1998. IPC and Interkraft had also contested an earlier bidding that was cancelled in December 1999 after IPC alleged "irregular circumstances" and pulled out. At that time IPC quoted $10 million and Interkraft, $8.25 million for the BPC shares. The government owns 96 percent of BPC, the United Mission to Nepal 2.8 percent, and the Nepal Electricity Authority, 1.1 percent. The BPC has two hydro-electricity generation stations with a total output of about 17 megawatts.