Kathmandu, Aug. 30 -- Nepal's electricity authority says the devastating Bhotekoshi floods may have caused losses running into hundreds of billions of rupees across more than a dozen hydropower projects and electricity transmission infrastructure, far exceeding initial estimates by private sector developers.

The scale of the destruction has also raised urgent questions over how damaged projects will be rebuilt and who will bear the cost.

Rajan Dhakal, spokesperson for the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), said on Friday that the authority's preliminary assessment pointed to losses worth hundreds of billions of rupees.

"For now, our priority is rescue operations, the search for missing people and restoring electricity supply," Dhakal s...