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| Kathmandu, Friday December 20, 2002 Paush 05, 2059. |
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Small is beautiful
Over a period of time, many friendly countries
have shown interest in developing and utilising Nepal’s hydro-power potentials.
Despite Nepal’s rich potentials, lack of capacity and expertise to exploit our own
resources is one major reason for the present level of power shortage in the country. It
is indeed a matter of shame that a country which can address not only its hunger for
power, but also its neighbour’s to a great extent is reeling under darkness and
industrial backwardness. Only around 15 per cent of the population has been covered under
the electrification programmes as of now.
Nepal has signed major and long-term agreements
on power generation, sharing and distribution mainly with India at macro-level, but almost
half a century of this understanding with a declared spirit of ‘mutual benefit’
has done little to help Nepal. The Mahakali Treaty signed between the two countries
reiterating the same spirit appears lost without entering even the initial phase of
construction as both sides have failed even to agree on a Detailed Project Report (DPR)
more than seven years after the agreement was finalised.
Although harnessing of the water resources
remains among the ‘highest priorities’ in almost every bilateral top level
meeting between Nepal and India, the level of mistrust between the two has reached an
enormous proportion. This mistrust will be clearly injurious to any future plan of
starting mega-power plants jointly by the two countries. The best bet Nepal should go for
at the moment is small and medium projects in collaboration with private or government
sectors belonging to the region or outside.
Norway is one among few countries which is
involved in such projects in Nepal for almost three decades now, and its continuing
interest should be matched by the government of Nepal’s zeal and sincerity. Lately,
the Norwegian government appears willing to assist in the rural electrification programme
besides involving private sectors in setting up small scale projects in different parts of
the country. It has made detailed studies about the proposed 250-MW upper Tamakoshi hydel
project raising hope that the project will be implemented on a time-bound basis.
It can only be called a lopsided planning and
vision that the people of one area have to grope in the dark indefinitely waiting for big
projects like the Mahakali to come up. The mega-projects would no doubt cater to greater
needs when they come up attracting big industries and other developmental projects.
Successful implementation of the small-scale power plants will be much faster and easier
to set up almost anywhere. Moreover, this might also help in promoting a culture of
time-bound implementation of the power projects in the future inspiring even the
mega-projects to realise that surveying or preparing DPR alone would not quench the thirst
for power of Nepal, or any other country which will be benefited out of Nepal’s
potentials. |
