The change is noticeable. In March 2016, electricity was available for barely half a day in Kathmandu. This year, no one in the Nepalese capital talks of ‘load-shedding’.

“Thanks to India we could avoid load-shedding this winter,” said Deep Kumar Upadhyay, Nepal’s Ambassador to India, at a recent seminar in Birgunj.

But Kathmandu is not Nepal, and many parts of the country still face power cuts though the situation is decidedly better.

At Birgunj, in the southern plains, industries face up to six hours of power rationing at peak hour. But this is a marked improvement from last winter when there was barely any grid supply at all.

Vinay Kumar, Deputy Chief of the Indian mission in Kathmandu, speaks of further improvement next season, as India is moving to step up supplies from 380 MW to almost 500 MW. This will meet two-thirds of Nepal’s peak winter shortage of 750-800 MW.

Ironically, the power scene change happened during the four-month border stand off towards 2015 and early 2016. Even as the then KP Oli government was spitting fire against Delhi, India started to increase supplies to Nepal as various cross-border transmission projects got commissioned.

Over the last year alone supplies are up nearly 250 MW bringing major relief to the Nepalese people. “At least two cities in Nepal now get 24-hour grid supply. Things will improve further next season,” says Kumar says.

Hydel projects in limbo

To end power shortage, Nepal has to increase domestic generation. According to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the country has 43,000 MW ‘economically feasible’ hydropower generation potential. However, the installed capacity is barely 800 MW.

Of this, a 30 MW multi-fuel plant is inoperative. The largest hydro project, Kaligandhaki ‘A’, runs at low availability. There are four projects of 30 to 70 MW each. The rest are small hydro facilities operated by independent power producers. Four State-owned projects totalling 144 MW are under construction. Of these, the 30 MW Korea-sponsored project (Chameliya), initiated in 2007, is in advanced stage of completion.

While a financially-stressed contractor, IVRCL, is yet to start work on an India-sponsored (40 MW Raughat) project, the China-backed (60 MW Upper Trishuli) project suffered a serious setback post the April 2015 earthquake.

India has proposed two large projects — the Upper Karnali and the Arun-III of 900 MW each — to turn Nepal into a power exporting nation. But both projects are facing land-acquisition hurdles.

According to Radhesh Pant, former CEO of the Investment Board of Nepal (IBN), the GMR-sponsored Upper Karnali project is yet to arrange finance.

The ₹5,723-crore Arun-III is ready for financial closure as the Modi government recently approved the project. The project authorities have also acquired private land at higher-than-market price. But there has been no in acquiring the forest land.

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