Nepal and India have signed long-term power trade agreement.
Energy secretaries of Nepal and India—Gopal Sigdel and Pankaj Agrawal respectively—signed the agreement in presence of Energy Minister Shakti Basnet at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation on Thursday.
Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi had announced that the southern neighbor would buy 10,000 MW of electricity in 10 years from Nepal under the long-term power trade agreement during the India visit of PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal from May 31 to June 3, 2023. The Indian Cabinet on September 4 had formalized the announcement.
The agreement incorporates a detailed action plan for power-trade agreement between the two countries for 10 years including issues like expansion of necessary infrastructure for power trade, according to the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation.
The current installed capacity of Nepal is 2892 including 541 MW installed in the past nine months. Nepal currently has permission to sell over 500 MW of electricity in India.
The seventh Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting, meanwhile, has started Thursday afternoon.
The sixth Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting was held in New Delhi in January 2021. The seventh is being held in Nepal on request of Nepal.
Foreign Minister NP Saud is leading the Nepali delegation, and Indian Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar, who landed in Kathmandu earlier on Thursday, is leading the Indian delegation in the foreign minister level Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting.
The two sides are set to raise the limit for Indian assistance through High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDP), earlier known as small development projects, to Rs 200 million from Rs 50 million.
