"Failing to sign PTA means losing another 20-25 years"
KATHMANDU:
Energy Secretary Rajendra Kishore Kshatri told the Agriculture and Water Resources Committee of Parliament that if Nepal failed to ink a power trade agreement (PTA) with India now then it could get pushed away for another 20-25 years.
Responding to parliamentarian’s queries at the Committee meeting today, the Energy Secretary said Nepal should have signed a PTA with India 17-18 years ago. “If we fail this time to ink this deal, it could take another 20-25 years to do the same,” Kshatri added.
As licenses have been issued for up to 13,000 MW of hydro energy, he said, the failure to sign a PTA with India may end up with license holders abandoning the projects. “This would be difficult to win their confidence again,” he added.
Kshatri informed that the draft of agreement that the Nepali side had sent to India talked of abolishing tariff and non-tariff barriers.
All three proposed power trade agreements prepared in 1997, 2010 and 2014 talked of promoting power generation in Nepal, according to him.
“We should not panic just because there is a mention of the word ‘generation,’ in the proposal,” he said, and added the future water resources projects could be multi-purpose schemes and they could bring huge benefits to Nepal.
“If anybody thinks of intervention in Nepal’s water resources then they are wrong,” he clarified. “Linking water with power would not help develop our power sector.”
The Energy Secretary also opposed modification and dilation of some words in the Indian proposal. “India used the word ‘cooperation on power sector,’ but we expressed our scepticism on this. Can trade be possible without cooperation?” he wondered.
Kshatri said Bangladesh had signed a deal with India using the same phrase. The Energy Secretary said if the PTA was signed with India, Nepal would only sell surplus power to India and it would also be able to sell power to any company—private or government.
Members of the Committee wanted to know whether or not the government would be able to sign the PTA with India in next 25 days.
Lawmakers Gagan Thapa, Laxmi Prasad Pokhrel and Bikram Khanal highlighted the need for a PTA with India.
Thapa, a Nepali Congress lawmaker, said Nepal, not India, needed a PTA.
Another NC lawmaker and former minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said Nepal could not attract big investments in water resources sector unless it signed a PTA with India.
Mahat said any third country investor should be able to sell power in India.
Lawmaker Laxmi Prasad Pokhrel said signing a PTA was necessary to open the door of economic development.
Lawmaker Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said Energy Ministry should take an initiative to ink a PTA with India. “Nepal needs a PTA more than India does,” he added.
House committee discusses PTA
The Legislature-Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources discussed the homework that the government has done on the purported Power Trade Agreement (PTA) with India.
Secretary at the Energy Ministry Rajendra Kishore Kshatri briefed the House committee about the PTA and the government's preparation.
He said that if Nepal failed to ink the PTA this time then it would be delayed for another 20-25 years.
PAC on Chamelia
Meanwhile, Public Accounts Committee's sub-panel, constituted to study the problems concerning Chamelia Hydropower Project, held its meeting to review its field visit.
A group of PAC members, led by sub-panel coordinator Rajendra Kumar K.C., had visited the Chamelia construction site in Darchula on August 19-23.
Source: THT
