Govt urged to give priority to IPPs in hydro dev
KATHMANDU, SEP 15 -
Independent power producers (IPPs) have asked the government to accord priority to the role of IPPs in hydropower development. With the government working on a new work plan to address pertinent problems of the energy sector including load-shedding, the IPPs had met Energy Minister Posta Bahadur Bogati on Tuesday.
A team of IPPs led by Subarna Das Shrestha, president of the Independent Power Producers Association Nepal (IPPAN) drew the attention of Minister Bogati to the delay in construction of hydropower projects.
Bogati and the IPPAN delegation also discussed various issues related to hydropower development including rescue packages for projects under construction, enabling environment for financial closure of projects, adjustment in the power purchase agreement tariff to establishment of a Hydropower Investment and Development Company.
“If the government addresses the issues raised by the IPPs, projects with a combined installed capacity of around 700 MW will be built in the next five years while large hydropower projects with a capacity of 3,000 MW will go into construction,” said Shrestha.
The IPPs, who are sceptical about the government itself establishing the Hydropower Investment and Development Company, have expressed reservations over the government’s decision to provide loans only to projects with a capacity of more than 25 MW from the newly established company.
They also raised concern over delays in wrapping up the project development agreements (PDAs) and construction of domestic and cross-border transmission lines. Bogati told the IPPAN team that the ministry was working to hold an interaction with the Ministry of Finance at both the secretary and ministry levels to allocate a budget for updating and constructing transmission lines and discuss other issues to promote hydropower development in the country.
According to Energy Secretary Balananda Paudel, the ministry is mulling providing some relief to IPPs. “We are trying to reduce construction costs through various means like waiving VAT, tax holidays and speedy processing of files,” he said.
Paudel added that the ministry was also planning to open another point for cross-border transmission lines besides the 400 kV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line with an eye on the power market for surplus energy after 2017.
Source: Kantipur
Independent power producers (IPPs) have asked the government to accord priority to the role of IPPs in hydropower development. With the government working on a new work plan to address pertinent problems of the energy sector including load-shedding, the IPPs had met Energy Minister Posta Bahadur Bogati on Tuesday.
A team of IPPs led by Subarna Das Shrestha, president of the Independent Power Producers Association Nepal (IPPAN) drew the attention of Minister Bogati to the delay in construction of hydropower projects.
Bogati and the IPPAN delegation also discussed various issues related to hydropower development including rescue packages for projects under construction, enabling environment for financial closure of projects, adjustment in the power purchase agreement tariff to establishment of a Hydropower Investment and Development Company.
“If the government addresses the issues raised by the IPPs, projects with a combined installed capacity of around 700 MW will be built in the next five years while large hydropower projects with a capacity of 3,000 MW will go into construction,” said Shrestha.
The IPPs, who are sceptical about the government itself establishing the Hydropower Investment and Development Company, have expressed reservations over the government’s decision to provide loans only to projects with a capacity of more than 25 MW from the newly established company.
They also raised concern over delays in wrapping up the project development agreements (PDAs) and construction of domestic and cross-border transmission lines. Bogati told the IPPAN team that the ministry was working to hold an interaction with the Ministry of Finance at both the secretary and ministry levels to allocate a budget for updating and constructing transmission lines and discuss other issues to promote hydropower development in the country.
According to Energy Secretary Balananda Paudel, the ministry is mulling providing some relief to IPPs. “We are trying to reduce construction costs through various means like waiving VAT, tax holidays and speedy processing of files,” he said.
Paudel added that the ministry was also planning to open another point for cross-border transmission lines besides the 400 kV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line with an eye on the power market for surplus energy after 2017.
Source: Kantipur
