Locals to agitate for shares in Khimti

MANTHALI, MAR 03

Locals of Ramechhap have planned to launch an agitation to press their demand for shares in the Khimti Hydropower Project.

The 60 MW plant is located on the Khimti Khola which forms the border between Ramechhap and Dolakha districts. Parliamentarians and locals from the district have decided to move jointly to secure stock in the project with lawmakers applying pressure at higher levels and the people protesting at the local level.

Ramechhap locals have been inspired to launch their movement after the people of Sindhupalchok succeeded in getting 6 percent of the shares in the 45 MW Bhote Koshi Project which has been in operation for 14 years.

Although there is no tradition of awarding shares to locals in hydropower projects, lawmakers claimed at an interaction held at the office of the District Development Office that locals have not benefited from the project as much as they should.

Project officials have been refusing to offer shares to the locals arguing that they had not made any such agreement with the government. The project started producing power in July 2000.

Nepali Congress (NC) lawmaker Ang Tawa Sherpa said that there was no alternative to demanding shares for the locals as the project had earned massive profits from the power plant. He added that the rural electrification done by the project and the Rs 1 million compensation paid to the affected people were inadequate. Sherpa said they were ready to launch an agitation to secure shares for the locals.

UCPN (Maoist) lawmaker Shyam Kumar Shrestha said a memorandum demanding shares for the locals had been handed to the project developer Himal Power Limited. “The project has remained silent so there is no alternative to holding an agitation,” he added.

The district committees of the NC and the UCPN (Maoist) submitted the memorandum to the project.

Meanwhile, another NC lawmaker Shiva Kumar Khadka said that since the benefits from local resources should go first to the local people, there should be efforts to secure shares for them even by using diplomatic channels. A Norwegian company has a majority stake in the project.

Similarly, NC district chairman Ram Chandra Khadka insisted on launching an agitation stating that the Bhote Koshi Hydropower Project had eventually conceded to the demand.

Local Development Officer Tek Raj Niraula said that past agreements made with the project should be honoured. “While launching the agitation, we should be very careful since it might discourage foreign investment in the hydropower sector,” he added.

Project officials have been saying a campaign demanding shares might affect development of the energy sector. They maintain the demand cannot be fulfilled as per the agreement between Himal Power and the government.

“Such issues are detrimental to the government’s objective of becoming more investor friendly and attracting FDI for the development. It simply has no place in the New Nepal,” Himal’s General Manager Tom Kristian Larsen said recently.

Source: The Kathmandu Post