India ready to supply more electricity to Nepal

India is willing to supply an additional quantity of electricity to energy-starved Nepal to end the era of load-shedding in the Himalayan nation.

The Indian side also agreed to extend technical assistance for improvement of existing infrastructure so that the era of load-shedding can end in Nepal for good, according to a press release issued by the Indian Embassy at the end of the two-day Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting which here yesterday.

The 4th meetings of the Indo-Nepal Joint Working Group (JWG) and Joint Steering Committee (JSC) on Power Cooperation were held on February 13-14, 2017 in Kathmandu.

The Indian team for JWG was led by R K Verma, Chairman, Central Electricity Authority and for JSC by Power Secretary P K Pujari. The Nepalese delegation for JWG was led by Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Energy and for JSC by Anup Kumar Upadhyay, Energy Secretary.

"The Nepalese side conveyed its deep appreciation for the efforts by the Government of India to supply enhanced quantities of electricity to Nepal that has made several parts of the country, including Kathmandu, free of load-shedding this winter." The current import 380 MW of power from India has been possible by virtue of the installation of additional transformer at Muzaffarpur by the Indian side, as also by technical improvements at Tanakpur at the request of the Nepalese side, according to the press release.

With the commissioning of two new lines - Raxaul-Parwanipur and Kataiya-Kusaha - the installed capacity for export of power to Nepal will increase by another 100 to 120 MW by the end of February 2017.

Further, with completion of 220 KV substation at Dhalkebar, the installed capacity will increase to almost 700 MW by the middle of 2017.

"The two sides also discussed construction of new transmission lines, keeping in view the power projects that are being developed. In this connection, New Butwal-Gorakhpur and Lumki-Bareilly transmission lines and new 400 kV sub-stations at Dhalebar, Butwal and Hetauda were also discussed.