Energy Minister Kulman Ghising has urged Additional Secretary at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Munu Mahawar, to make arrangements to eliminate the process of obtaining approval every year for exporting electricity, so that once approval is obtained, it does not have to be obtained again.
What you should know
Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Kulman Ghisingh and Additional Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs of India Munu Mahawar have met. The meeting held at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation in Singha Durbar on Tuesday discussed Nepal-India cooperation in the energy, water resources and irrigation sectors, electricity trade and expansion of transmission lines, and progress of projects under construction with the investment of Indian government companies.
The meeting discussed issues such as organizing a meeting of the bilateral mechanism in the energy and water resources sector, sending water to Nepal during the dry season from the Mahakali Irrigation (Phase III) canal, problems seen in the use of forest land of the 900 MW Arun III and 669 MW Lower Arun Hydropower Projects under construction by an Indian government company, approval for additional electricity export from Nepal to India, and electricity import during the winter months.
Minister Ghising requested that arrangements be made to allow Nepal to import a certain amount of electricity required in some months of the winter season only until the second week of Poush, and that arrangements be made to allow imports 24 hours a day for some months thereafter.
He requested that the process of obtaining approval every year for exporting electricity to India's competitive dayhead and real-time markets be made so that it does not have to be repeated once approval is obtained. Since it appears that an additional 20 MW of electricity can be sent to Bangladesh using India's transmission infrastructure, Ghising requested that the necessary consent be provided for that.
Stating that the Ministry and the Investment Board are providing necessary coordination and facilitation to resolve the problems seen in the use of forest land in the Lower Arun and Arun III, he requested for additional assistance from the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim) Line of Credit for the construction of the transmission line.
Additional Secretary Munu Mahawar requested for necessary assistance to resolve the problems faced by the hydropower projects being constructed by Indian companies in Nepal. He said that the electricity trade and expansion of transmission infrastructure between India and Nepal have gradually entered a new phase and are achieving great success.
