By Karuna Thapa
Kathmandu, February 22
From tomorrow, a high-level discussion between Nepal and India’s energy secretaries will take place in Kathmandu.
On Wednesday, the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) of Nepal’s and India’s Energy Secretaries will meet. The meeting, which hasn’t happened in two years, will take place at the Hotel Hyatt in Kathmandu over two days.
At the conference, India wants to talk about ”joint investment/development in hydroelectric projects.” When he was in Bangalore, India in October of 2020, the meeting did not take place.
India had been blaming the Corona infection despite Nepal’s repeated attempts to convene the summit.
On the first day of the conference in Kathmandu tomorrow, the Nepal-India Joint Secretary-
level Joint Working Group (JWG) will convene. The issues deliberated upon at the meeting will be presented at the secretary-level meeting on the following day. Devendra Karki, Nepal’s energy secretary, will represent Nepal, while Alok Kumar, India’s energy secretary, will represent India.
The summit will focus on energy trade between Nepal and India, as well as the construction and investment in the hydropower sector. The meeting will look at how far the deal to develop the New Butwal-Gorakhpur Interstate Transmission Line with an equal share of the cost has progressed.
Similarly, the group will address the ease with which Nepalese electricity might enter the Indian market. Only 39 MW of project power can currently be exported to the Indian Energy Exchange market. In addition, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has recommended allowing an extra 814 MW of project power into the market. However, because the Indian government is not yet ready, the Ministry of Energy is prepared to bring this matter to India’s attention.
India has also put ‘joint investment in hydropower’ on its agenda this time, according to an energy ministry official. India is anticipated to offer a large project involving Nepal and India’s joint investment. The summit will, however, address which projects India is willing to engage in and which projects could benefit from the combined investment. There’s also a chance that India and China would team up to form a government-backed corporation to move huge projects forward.
The project has not yet been completed with joint funding from Nepal and India. With the
government of India’s investment, Arun will become the third, and an agreement has been made for India to build the Lower Arun Hydropower Project. Even after taking over the Upper Karnali project, the Indian business GMR has been unable to secure funds.
According to officials, the Energy Secretary-level meeting could address the tripartite meeting (Nepal, India, and Bangladesh) for the export of Nepal’s power to Bangladesh. Despite its promise to hold such a summit within three months during the October 2022 meeting, India has shown little interest.
