NEA to import 60MW electricity from PTC-India

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on Wednesday has singed an agreement with India’s Power Trading Corporation to import 60 megawatt electricity from India.

Executive Director of the NEA Arjun Karki and chairman of PTC India, Tantra Narayan Thakur, signed the deal to this effect at the concluding day of two-day 'Power Summit 08' in Kathmandu.

According to the agreement reached between the two sides, India will supply up to 40 megawatt power through Duhabi-Kataiya 132 KV transmission line and 20 megawatt through Tanakpur-Mahendranagar 132 KV transmission line.

The power supply through Duhabi-Kataiya transmission line will commence after necessary repair works by NEA on the Nepal portion of transmission line, which had broken down due to recent Saptakoshi floods.

NEA and PTC have also agreed to import-export the electricity as per the existing tariff.

The electricity import deal is expected to provide some relief to existing load-shedding problem which Nepal has been facing for a long time.

Addressing the concluding ceremony of the two-day Power Summit 2008, Minister of State for Commerce and Power of Government of India, Jairam Ramesh said that public-private involvement should be the driving force to harness immense potential of hydropower. He also said that India wants to work with Nepal seriously to generate 10,000 MW of electricity as envisaged by the government of Nepal.

On the same occasion, secretary of Water Resources Ministry, Shankar Prasad Koirala said Nepal will improve legal and institution mechanism and Electricity Act and NEA Act to encourage more private investment in hydropower sector.

Secretary Koirala also informed that the Nepal-India joint technical team is meeting shortly to discuss Pancheshwor, Koshi High Dam and other projects.

The two-day power summit in which 300 representatives from Nepal, India and other countries had taken part, concluded on Wednesday.

The summit was jointly organised by the Nepal India Chamber of Commerce and Industries (NICCI), Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) and Power Trading Corporation of India (PTC).