NEA signs power deal with India

KATHMANDU, Jan 24: The government has signed a deal with India to import an additional 30 MW of electricity. The negotiating team of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the only state utility company, reached an agreement in this regard with Power Trading Corporation (PTC) of India on Wednesday in New Delhi.

As per the agreement, 15 MW of power will reach the country via Duhabi-Kataiya transmission line (Biratnagar) and another 15 MW from Balmiki Nagar point in Gandak. The additional power will be imported from the West Bengal State of India as Bihar State itself is said to be facing an acute power shortage at present. It has 2500 MW demand whereas the supply is 900 MW.

"We have reached an understanding to bring 15 MW from Biratnagar and another 15 MW from Gandak," Minister for Energy Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat told myrepublica.com on Saturday confirming the agreement.

Minister Mahat, however, added that the import will not reduce the load-shedding hours entirely, but would help in maintaining the NEA´s plan to not let the hours exceed beyond 12 hours power cut daily. "The import will not bring down the daily nine hours load-shedding that we are currently facing, but we will now be able to maintain the 12 hours daily maximum power cut by the driest month as per the NEA plan," Mahat said.

According to the members of the NEA negotiating team, which arrived in the capital Saturday evening, the power would be imported from February 1 and the per unit cost of the 30 MW will be a whopping Rs 10.72 (IRs 6.70). Nepal is already importing 20 MW from Tanakpur point at the same rate since January 1.

However, an NEA official said that the import of power from February 1 is contingent upon the availability of the transmission line permission to be obtained from Bihar Electricity Board. "There are some bureaucratic hurdles like permission from Bihar Board. Once it is cleared we should be able to get the power," the NEA source said.

The deal was struck after a two months of negotiation. Of the 60 MW request originally made by NEA (more than two months back), the Indian side has already denied 30 MW supply. Similarly, the Indian side also turned down the government request for a 100 MW power at concessional rate. The request was made during Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal´s India visit.

 source: myrepublica.com