Energy Ministry told to deal with idle hydel projects
KATHMANDU, DEC 17 -
The parliamentary Agriculture and Water Resources Committee (AWRC) on Tuesday ordered the Energy Ministry to decide the fate of the 14 hydropower projects whose licences the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had initially ordered be cancelled for non-performance.
After the CIAA relaxed its cancellation order verbally and authorized the ministry to act as it saw fit, the House committee told the government to decide whether their permits should be scrapped after studying the facts.
The future of these projects including that of the World Bank-funded Kabeli-A had hung in the balance after the anti-graft body ordered that their licences be cancelled for failing to conclude the financial closure and power purchase agreement (PPA) on time as per the Electricity Act and Regulation.
When lawmakers vehemently opposed the CIAA’s directive and accused it of exceeding its jurisdiction besides questioning the validity of its investigation, the anti-graft body backed down saying that its directive was not obligatory.
The AWRC then directed the ministry to conduct a study, investigate, analyze, monitor and update the status of all the 14 hydel projects and reach a decision by staying within the legal mechanism.
“The ministry can decide which projects need government support and which should have their licences revoked,” AWRC Chairman Gagan Thapa said after the meeting on Tuesday.
Thapa added that a study done by the committee showed that a number of project developers had not initiated any development task while dilly-dallying by government agencies in some cases had affected the development of some projects. The committee directed the ministry to take action against those just holding on to the licence without starting work on the project and present a report about them in the next two months.
The AWRC issued its decision a day after CIAA Acting Secretary Prem Kumar Rai clarified that the anti-graft body’s directive was not mandatory in the case of these 14 projects. “Since the CIAA has already clarified that the ministry can make a decision on its own, we have asked the ministry to initiate the process,” Thapa said.
The AWRC’s ruling is in line with Clause 12 (B) of CIAA Act 1991 which states, “The commission may write to the concerned authority or department in order to rectify the bad results arising out of the improper action committed by any person holding a public post.
Provided that in case the decision taken by the person holding a public post can be appealed under current laws, the commission shall not write in such a way that it would have an influence on such a decision.”
The Electricity Act has given the final authority to issue licences and terminate survey and generation licences to the energy secretary.
Realizing that a number of projects had failed to conclude the procedures within the designated time, the parliamentary committee has directed the ministry to initiate the required process to make the responsible government agencies stick to a time frame.
Likewise, the committee has directed the ministry to punish the developers who have acquired a licence but have not made any move to develop the project by conducting effective monitoring through its line agencies and submit a progress report to the committee within two months.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
