Kathmandu: Member of the House of Representatives and central head of the Energy and Water Resources Department of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, Engineer Shreeram Neupane, has submitted a 12-point policy and implementation proposal to the Prime Minister for executing the “Energy Development Decade.”
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, he proposed declaring an “Energy Development Decade” with targets of generating 15,000 MW of electricity within the next five years and 30,000 MW within a decade. To achieve this goal, he emphasized that hydropower, transmission, and distribution infrastructure must be advanced at a war-footing level, and all structural and policy-related obstacles must be removed immediately.
He also suggested that the complex legal procedures related to land, forests, and the environment that are hindering energy sector development should either be amended or suspended, and that all approval processes should be streamlined and managed in an integrated manner under the Ministry of Energy.
He emphasized the need to end the current situation where hydropower developers must go through 8 ministries and 23 departments, and instead implement a “single-window service.” He stated that permits, environmental approvals, land management, and transmission access should all be made available from a single point.
Neupane also stressed that the government must take full responsibility for security to ensure the timely completion of nationally significant hydropower projects, and establish effective mechanisms to control obstructions and insecurity in project areas.
Similarly, he suggested formulating a new Energy and Water Resources Policy to ensure active participation of the private sector in generation, transmission, and distribution, as well as opening up energy trade to the private sector. He also highlighted the need to link hydropower projects with multi-dimensional sectors such as drinking water, irrigation, tourism, and agriculture.
He proposed reforming the current 35-year generation license system by introducing a 50-year long-term license, expressing confidence that this would provide stability and assurance to investors.
He further stated that the expansion of transmission and distribution infrastructure, alongside energy generation, should be advanced as a national campaign, with the government prioritizing the completion of necessary transmission lines, substations, and grid expansion.
The letter also mentions that the government should take responsibility for providing land required for establishing industries to increase domestic electricity consumption, as well as extending transmission lines to industrial areas.
Neupane added that special incentives, infrastructure development, and investment-friendly policies should be implemented to attract electricity-based industries (such as steel, cement, herbal processing, data server stations, and chemical fertilizer industries) to Nepal.
He suggested that to increase household electricity consumption, the distribution system should be improved and tariffs restructured to make them consumption-friendly, along with the implementation of special programs.
He also emphasized the need to set a clear target of reaching 1,500 kWh annual per capita electricity consumption by 2035 and to work aggressively toward achieving it.
Similarly, he recommended strengthening energy diplomacy with India and Bangladesh by signing short-term, medium-term, and long-term energy trade agreements, and expanding cross-border transmission infrastructure to establish Nepal as a reliable energy supplier in South Asia.
In the conclusion of the letter, Neupane stated that capable, experienced, visionary, and practical leadership is essential to successfully implement the “Energy Development Decade.”
Jalasarokar
