King Gyanendra is set to inaugurate Nepal's biggest hydroelectric project, the 144 MW Kali Gandaki A, on 22 January according to officials. The inauguration had been postponed earlier because of a lingering controversy over an unauthorised payment of cost overruns by the Nepal Electricity Authority to the project's Italian civil contractor. President Tadao Chino of the Asian Development Bank, which financed the $428 million project, will now not be able to attend because the new dates are not suitable. The royal palace communication secretariat, however, said it did not know about the inauguration. "We have not been informed about it," said an official. The palace had sought details of the cost overruns last year (see: Nepali Times#166).