KATHMANDU, NOV 06 - A joint team of experts (JTE) from Nepal and India are resuming talks in Kathmandu regarding the final preparation of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Pancheshwor Multipurpose Project by the end of November. The meeting is being held for the first time after almost 18 months of interregnum.
The coalition government of the erstwhile prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, with an assurance that the DPR would be prepared within the then next six months, had promulgated the joint treaty on Mahakali development through a joint session of Parliament on September 20, 1996.
According to Bishnu Bahadur Thapa, acting secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), the two sides are likely to focus their discussion on the re-regulatory dams at Pancheshwor, sharing of water and downstream benefits.
There has been a controversy over the choice of location for the construction of the project’s regulatory dam and re-regulatory dams. India has proposed to build the regulatory dam at Purnagiri while Nepal insists on building it 15 kilometres upstream at Rupalighat. A recently carried out field study suggests that the construction of the dam in Purnagiri would inundate a major portion of arable lands in several villages of Dandeldhura district in Nepal.The JTE meeting would come out with a conclusive result if the Indian side agrees on the Nepali proposal, Thapa said. The project’s joint contact office was closed last year. Thapa hinted that unless the JTE meeting succeeded to settle the disputes over sharing of water and downstream benefits, the issues would be forwarded to the upcoming ministerial level talks between the two countries in December. Local water resource experts emphasize on political means to resolve the dispute.India has taken a new stance: To take into account the volume of water in the lower Sharada canal before reaching at a decision on the sharing of water. It has been proposing to build the re-regulatory dam in Purnagiri, which lies within its territory about seven kilometres downstream from Rupalighat. Nepal is raising its objection to the proposal. "We have maintained our stance to build the re-regulatory dam at Rupalighat," Thapa said. "Considering the investment and inundation problems, it is the most suitable site for both countries."Posted on: 2003-11-05 09:00

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