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Kathmandu Friday October 27, 2000 Kartik 11, 2057.
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"Too good" to
be true
In this age of quick bucks and intense
competition, it is difficult to see how anyone could ever resist the offer for hydro-power
generation as were reported in this newspaper as well as in some others the other day. The
so called prized offer has to do with the development of the 300 Megawatt Upper Karnali
Hydroelectric project. This time around, the developer is said to be a non-profit
organisation which is apparently willing to chip in 70 percent of the costs and the Nepal
Electricity Authority (NEA) will have to come up with the remaining 30 percent. Moreover,
the enticing icing on the cake is the provision that the per unit cost of electricity will
not exceed 3 US cents (about 2.2 rupees) at any time. What more could our leaders want?
According to reports, a person like Prime
Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who is so concerned about the welfare of the Nepalese
people, has hurriedly convened a meeting of the "fast track" committee just one
day before he went on an official visit to India. He is said to have instructed the
concerned authorities to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the non-profit
organisation that claims it specializes in helping developing countries develop properly.
The offer has come at a time when there are
other better known companies that want to develop the 10,000 plus megawatt Karnali
Chisapani and the 400 plus megawatt Arun III projects. Their terms are obviously at great
variance from what the new offer on Upper Karnali has shown. The recent example of RNAC
acquiring an unnecessary extra jetliner on lease is another example of how things ought
not to be done. When the procedures are not followed properly, anything that is done, even
when they are done in the interest of the people and the country, provide people with
sufficient reason to suspect conspiracy (read corruption) in such deals. This happens,
particularly, when the concerned authorities such as corporations are unable to furnish
even the parliamentary committee looking into the deals with the necessary details. It is
precisely for this reason that the Nepalese have to be wary of such offers. Such offers
should not be taken at face value. If the new offer as reported in the press was tenable,
why is it that NEA could not build such projects on its own and avail
its consumers with energy at substantially
low cost? There is simply no doubting that this latest offer is simply too good to be
true. This is all the more reason why the government should take time to study the offer
and to see what strings could be attached to it. Hastily jumping into a deal, over which
the country may have to repent later, will be worse than having no deal at all. The
government would do well to recognise this before giving its answer.
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