Oct 4, 2015- The Agriculture and Water Resources Committee under Legislature-Parliament held a meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation of hydropower and the Ministry’s strategies on it.
The meeting held under the chairmanship of the Committee’s Chair Gagan Thapa termed the recent ‘unofficial blockade’ by India was a wrong step. The committee said the blockade has not only made the daily life miserable but also has exposed the vulnerability existing in the country’s energy sector.
The recent fuel crisis has taught us the difficulties the country like ours has to face when have to completely rely on a single country and at the same time lacks alternative sources and adequate storage facility.
The meeting stressed on the need to take immediate measures to curve the crisis of fuel security and concluded that it is indispensible to formulate policies for national energy security.
The meeting also decided to direct the Energy Ministry to prepare and submit a national energy security policy through coordination among Water and Energy Commission, Nepal Oil Corporation, Nepal Electricity Authority, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, among other entities and experts, including private sectors.
Also, the meeting decided to draw the government’s attention to put the issue of long term energy security in priority and initiate policies, programmes and strategies related to it.
The next meeting of the committee has been scheduled for 8 am on Monday.
Source : eKantipur
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Political interference marred hydro development, says MoE Secy
KATHMANDU: Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Rajendra Kishore Kshatri, has said development in Nepal’s hydropower sector could not take place as expected due to unnecessary political interference in the sector.
Responding to the queries raised by the members of Parliament in a meeting organised by the Agriculture and Water Resources Committee of the Legislature-Parliament today, Kshatri said that political interference ranging from the changes in programmes and policies right after the change of concerned minister to appointment of the minister’s loyal people in various projects, have made the matter worse.
The official said that failure of the concerned minister to seek primary solutions to improve energy sector of Nepal is another matter of concern.
On the occasion, lawmakers attending the meeting urged concerned authorities to work ahead for the development and expansion of energy sector even by imposing energy a state of emergency.They said such a move for sustainable development of energy sector should be taken at the political level, if necessary.
The MPs including Laxmi Prasad Pokharel, Dilli Prasad Kafle, Nawaraj Sharma and Kashinath Adhikari stressed on the need to focus on the matter and to pay heed on coming with the hydropower sector as an alternative to meet increasing demands of petroleum products in Nepal.
Source : RSS
