Surplus power will be exported: Minister Basnet

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, has said only surplus power would be exported to India.

During a meeting of the National Concern and Coordination Committee under the National Assembly on Thursday, the government was for consuming electricity within the country and only the excessive electricity would be sold to India.

The government has initiated a process for it, he reminded. Even a credible base for production of 28,500MW power in 12 years was created, Minister Basnet informed the lawmakers, adding that a 12-year-old strategic plan (2023 to 2035BS) was prepared to usher development through energy in the country.

According to him, Nepal and India had signed an agreement on the export of 10,000 MW of electricity from Nepal to India in 10 years, for which, infrastructures were being prepared.

Minister Basnet insisted that the power trade agreement was made by keeping national interest at the center. Nepal’s electricity would also be sold to Bangladesh.

Moreover, the Minister shared that the government had intensified the process via the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to expand domestic electrification.

In the coming one and half years, the country will be fully electrified at the basic level.

On the occasion, ministry secretary Gopal Prasad Sigdel informed the lawmakers about the recent agreement Nepal and India had on power trade, which Sigdel, argued would contribute to the country’s economic development and prosperity.

The technical and other issues would however be sorted out gradually by the bilateral joint-secretary level meetings.

In response to the lawmakers’ query on dedicated and trunk line tariff, secretary Sigdel informed that the government was making special initiatives for solving this pressing problem.

Even a commission was formed by the Cabinet to this end.

Deputy Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Manoj Silwal, said the campaign of nationwide electrification was on.

Lawmakers including Ram Chandra Rai, Kumar Dasaudi, Sonam Gyaljen Sherpa, and Gopi Achhami, had inquired minister and secretary on various issues relating to electricity consumption and agreement in the meeting.