Nepal, India to sign power trade agreement today

KATHMANDU: Nepal and India are all set to sign an agreement on power trade today. Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation has confirmed that the previous agreement on Nepal's export of 10,000MW electricity to India in 10 years is being materialised with the signing of the agreement.

Ministry Spokesperson and Joint Secretary Navin Raj Singh informed that the bilateral agreement will be signed by Ministry Secretary Gopal Sigdel and his Indian counterpart Pankaj Agrawal amidst a programme on Thursday.  

Meanwhile, the officials have informed that three important transmission lines are being inaugurated.

An agreement was reached in this connection in the course of the India visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal in May last year. PM Dahal's Indian counterpart Narendra Modi had announced that India was going to import electricity produced in Nepal in a long-term manner.

Earlier, the Cabinet of India had approved the agreement regarding power import. Secretaries of both countries are signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) during Indian Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar’s visit to Nepal.

It will pave the way for different government and private companies to deal with electricity by signing power purchase agreement in short, mid and long-term manners.

In the wake of the Indian External Affairs Minister's visit to Nepal, a joint secretary (Energy Ministry) level meeting between Nepal and India decided to enhance the capacity of Dhalkebar-Mujaffarpur 400-kV interstate transmission line.

The meeting further discussed speeding up construction of new Butwal-Gorakhpur interstate transmission line, construction of two more interstate transmission lines and intensifying mega projects.