Posted on 2009-07-09
KATHMANDU: India and Nepal have agreed to hold the much-delayed Power Exchange Committee meeting in the first week of August. The meeting will decide how the two sides will utilize the 30 MW additional power supply from India.
The Indian government agreed to provide the additional 30 MW of power to Nepal Friday, as requested by the government of Nepal in April when the country was facing acute power shortage. Both the Ministry of Energy (MoE) and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) had then said that the Indian government´s nod is now too late as Nepal no longer faces heavy load-shedding.
The request was made for April and May, the driest months in Nepal. However, the NEA will now discuss the mechanism to utilize the power as and when Nepal requires it. Even after the claims by the ministry and NEA, the Indian embassy had claimed that the agreement can be renegotiated for a later period.
The date for the meeting this time has been proposed by the Indian government which is yet to finalize who will head the delegation from India. From Nepal´s side, Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Uttar Kumar Shrestha will head the negotiation team, the MoE said Tuesday.
“India has proposed the meeting for the first week of August which is likely to take place in Kathmandu. The Indian side is yet to finalize its team,” Anup Upadhyay, the spokesperson of the Ministry 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.
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