KATHMANDU, JUL 05 -
Experts have said the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) took a flawed decision while signing power purchase agreements (PPA) with Khimti and Upper Bhotekoshi hydroelectricity projects a decade ago.

At a discussion held by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday, water resource experts suggested the PPAs be revised to help the NEA tide over its present financial crisis, PAC Chairman Ram Kishan Yadav said.

Water resource expert Ratna Sansar Shrestha, former water resource minister Dipak Gywali and former director general of NEA Arjun Bahadur Karki attended the meeting. Kantipur journalist covering water issues, Bikash Thapa said Norwegian companies should urge diplomats in their country to re-negotiate the PPA with Khimti giving some relief to the debt-ridden state-owned power utility and also to benefit from the Norway government’s interest to invest in Nepal’s hydropower.

A PAC report earlier stated NEA was incurring an annual loss of Rs. 2.5 billion through its deals with Upper Bhotekoshi (36 MW) and Khimti (60 MW) projects, requiring costly payments in US dollars. Khimti and Upper Bhotekoshi have caused deficits of Rs. 19.8 billion and Rs. 9.5 billion, respectively, for the NEA in the past decade.

Posted on: 2010-07-06 08:07

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