At a time when the government has put forward an ambitious plan to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity in the next 10 years, a total 215 hydropower projects to be constructed with its own investment are in limbo following the failure to take a decision on the matter.
The projects that are commissioned by the Department of Electricity Development under ‘Basket Fund’ of the Ministry of Energy would generate a total of 10,243 megawatts of electricity upon their completion.
The failure to include the projects in recently presented government’s policy and programme has further complicated the matter.
Moreover, there is a lack of clear modality defined to move the projects forward in the Basket Fund of the Energy Crisis Alleviation Action Plan, 2072, that was announced on February 18.
Likewise, the government is yet to decide on the ways to move the projects forward that have been stalled for the past 15 years due to various reasons.
Meanwhile, the private sector, individuals and authoritative bodies have demanded that the projects under government ownership be forwarded on basis of competition.
The Ministry of Energy and Department of Electricity Development have not come up with any decision for the same.
According to the Department, the government owns big hydropower projects including Sunkoshi II (1,110 megawatt), Sunkoshi III (536 megawatt), Tamakoshi I (100), Fulkot Karnali (210), Nalasingaad reservoir (400), Nalam Karnali (303), Mugu Karnali (194), Madi Seti (83), Upper Arun (400), Karnali VII (330), Kaligandaki Gorge (164), Jagadulla Khola (75), Humla Karnali Cascade (916), Humla Karnali I (274), Chainpur Seti (454), Budhi Gandaki (254), Bheri I (440) and Bheri I (243).
Source : RSS
