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Kathmandu Friday January 11, 2002 Paush 27, 2058.
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Hydropower and investment
Minister for Water Resources Bijay Kumar
Gachchhedar has closed down the much-awaited Kali Gandaki (A) hydropower plant to start
the "wet test" process. This means, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has
completed the hydropower plant that will soon come under operation. Kali Gandaki happens
to be the biggest hydropower plant ever built in this country. The hydroelectricity power
project took off after the government realized the necessity to meet an ever increasing
demand of power. Now the wet test on one of the three turbines begins today. Certainly,
the completion of this plant comes as good news for this country. It is to be hoped that
the frequent power cuts and blackouts during the dry season will be reduced. Thousands of
people, besides manufacturing plants, have had to endure the burnt of frequent
load-shedding, mostly in summer. Such incidents of load-shedding have always been an
overriding concern. The slow pace of industrial growth has been attributed to the lack of
electricity power. Besides, foreign investors have also raised their voices against
shortages of power.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Official
Development Assistance of the Japanese government funded the Kali Gandaki (A) hydropower
plant under the supervision of an Italian power company. The government spent more than
450 million US dollars to complete the Kali Gandaki plant. Two companies — German and
Japanese — have been looking after the electromechanical works of this plant. The
plant consists of three turbines, each generating 48 megawatt of electricity. A 100 meter
long and 43 meter wide dam diverts the water of the Kali Gandaki river through a
six-kilometre long tunnel. The electricity power generated by this plant will be
transferred to the national power grid at Lekhnath Municipality. From here, the
transferred electricity power will be connected with two different circuit transmission
lines to supply power in areas under acute power shortage. The electricity power generated
by Kali Gandaki is also expected to meet country’s demand for the next three years.
The country has the potential for generating more than 85 thousand megawatt power which,
many hydro experts claim, is next to that of Brazil. Of the total, less than 500 megawatt
has been exploited so far. And only fifteen percent of the total population have access to
electricity in this country, while the rest continue to live in darkness due to lack of
poor policies and programmes. Failure to realize or tap this vast potential, which would
have otherwise improved the people’s standard of living, has been the main reason why
the country’s economy is in a shambles and forty percent of the total population
continue to live in abject poverty. The direct foreign investment, which the government
has been trying to attract in the hydropower sector since the country opened up to the
outside world, has not been effective and most of the time India has benefited from it.
The government needs to introduce new measures and incentives to attract massive foreign
investment in the hydropower sector, and should also see that they serve the country’s
development interests. |
