India positive to purchase electricity from Nepal

An agreement has been reached to form a joint task force on a proposal to construct a hydropower project to be built with joint investments of Nepal and India.

The task force will have a maximum of three members from both countries. As per the proposal, a company will be established at the governmental level of both the countries and this company in the first phase will build a hydropower project with joint investments.

The agreement was reached at the ninth meeting of the Nepal-India Energy Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee here Thursday, said Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Chiranjibi Chataut. 

The meeting was co-chaired by Secretary of the Energy Ministry Debendra Karki from Nepal and Secretary of the Energy Ministry of India Alok Kumar.

In the meeting, issues including existing transmission lines between the two countries, under-construction and proposed interstate transmission line, the Arun III hydropower and transmission line, and interstate power trade were discussed, said Joint Secretary Chataut.

Similarly, it was agreed to increase the capacity of energy produced from the interstate 400 KV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line.

The meeting also agreed to establish a joint company between Nepal and India within April 2022 for the construction of the interstate New Butwal Gorakhpur transmission line. The 400 KV transmission line will span 140 kilometers (20 kilometers in Nepali territory and the remaining 120 in Indian territory). The government of Nepal has to manage the budget to construct the project on its side.

Meanwhile, the government of India was positive on the proposal made by Nepal Electricity Authority at different dates to export electricity to India, said the meeting attendants. The NEA has requested India to approve the proposal to sell 850 megawatts of electricity to India before the coming monsoon.