The Association of Independent Power Producers, Nepal (IPPAN) has demanded the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel to remove the Take and Pay provision in the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) from the budget of the next fiscal year. In a meeting held at the Ministry of Finance on Sunday, Minister Paudel reiterated that the item in the budget would not cause any problem in energy production, but the producers requested that it be corrected anyway, saying that the item would not bring more investment in this sector.

Ganesh Karki, president of IPPAN, said that no promoter would go to the electricity authority for PPA as the bank would not invest in hydropower projects due to the point of buying and selling electricity only on 'take and pay' basis. He also said that the promoters will return the license of the project to the government if the state refunds the amount that has been spent while working with the permit for the project study.

The senior vice president of IPPAN, Mohan Kumar Dangi, said that IPPAN has no objection to other matters in the budget, but the wording "take and pay" should be removed as the promoters who have been waiting for the PPA since 2075 were very disappointed.

Uttam Vlon, the vice president of IPPAN, said that the take and pay provision should not be brought in case the private sector does not get a business permit . He said that if the private sector gets permission for electricity production and business, it can find the market and create projects by itself, but now when the electricity authority is a single buyer, bringing take and pay is like closing the door of the private sector .

IPPA Deputy Secretary General Prakash Dulal said that there is no point in taking PPA and not doing it . Since the bank will not invest, what is the meaning of doing such a PPA and not doing it? Dulal questioned and said.

After listening to the officials of Ippan, Finance Minister Paudel said that he has no intention of discouraging the private sector and that if there are any problems in project construction, he will take the initiative to solve them. 

In the budget announced on May 15th, the promoters strongly objected after it was mentioned that the electricity of the project based on river flow will be purchased only according to the take and pay provision in order to balance production and consumption. Regarding this issue, Ippan has met the Minister of Energy, Minister of Finance, and even the former Prime Minister and said that it will have a far-reaching impact on the energy sector .