Nepal to import additional 30 MW electricity from India

Jul 25, 2009 - Xinhua

Nepali Minister for Energy Prakash Saran Mahat on Saturday said that the Nepal-India Power Exchange Meet would be held on Aug. 10 and Aug. 11 in New Delhi, capital of India.

The minister said that the 30 MW of additional electricity, which was earlier requested by Nepali government when facing acute power crisis in this April and May, will now be imported under a new mechanism to be put in place by the upcoming meeting in New Delhi.

"The 30 MW additional power supply will be imported from India for the upcoming winter season for which the Power Exchange Meet between the two countries will work out the details. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is negotiating the price for the import of the electricity with the Indian side," Minister Mahat said.

The Indian government has asked Nepal to buy the additional electricity at the commercial rate which works out to be 8 rupees (some 0.1 U.S. dollar). The NEA has sought power import on a concession rate of 4.60 Nepali rupees (some 0.06 U.S. dollar). India is currently providing up to 50 MW electricity at this discounted price, local news website Myrepublica reported.

"Since the construction of the second circuit in the Duhabi- Kataiya cross-border transmission line is now over, we are hopeful that the talks will be fruitful," Uttar Kumar Shrestha, Executive Director of NEA said.

During the meeting the two sides will discuss the tariff rate for power exchange between Nepal and India, determine the price structure for import of additional electricity from India, determine quantity of export and import from various points and discuss maintenance and other technical issues.

Earlier Saturday, Mahat announced that the government will organize centenary celebration next year on the occasion of the 100 years of establishment of the Pharping Hydroelectric Project ( PHP), in the south of Nepali capital Kathmandu, and the site of the project will be developed as a live museum.

"The government will allocate the required budget for developing the Pharping hydro site as a live museum in order to preserve its historic importance," he said.

PHP is Nepal's first hydro-electric project and the second project to be launched in the whole of Asia after the first project in Darjeeling, India. It was built during the reign of the then Rana Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher in 1010.