Minister for Energy is adding two new agendas, along with the Power Trade Agreement (PTA), for discussion with India during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Energy Minister Gyawali said Nepali will propose India to build cross-border transmission line between Lamki of Nepal and Raebareli of India's Uttar Pradesh to evacuate power generated by hydropower projects in mid- and far-west development regions.
“As projects in the regions having total installed capacity of 4,700 MW have already received survey license, we want to develop high-capacity transmission line with the Indian assistance,” Gyawali said.
The line would be the third cross-border transmission line between Nepal and India after the Dhalkebar Mujaffarpur 400 kV, which is currently under construction, and the Bardaghat Gorakhpur transmission line which is under study.
Likewise, the government is proposing India to build Tamor Hydropower Project during Modi's visit. “We will offer India the mega project if the southern neighbor shows interest to develop it,” Minister Gyawali added.
Experts, however, say the government should stick to signing PTA with India instead of proposing the southern neighbor to build different projects. They argue that signing of PTA with India would open a large market for Nepal's hydropower, drawing foreign investments in Nepal's hydropower sector
Ken Grainger [
CC-BY-SA-2.0],
via Wikimedia Commons