Nepal’s Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Physical Infrastructure and Transport, and Urban Development Kul Man Ghising held a meeting with Munu Mahawar, Additional Secretary at India’s Ministry of External Affairs, on Tuesday at Singha Durbar.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed cooperation in the Nepal–India energy, water resources, and irrigation sectors, electricity trade, expansion of transmission lines, and the progress of hydropower projects being constructed in Nepal with investment from Indian government-owned companies.
Key topics of discussion included:
- Convening meetings of bilateral mechanisms in the energy and water resources sector
- Supplying water to Nepal through the canal of the Mahakali Irrigation Project (Phase III) during the dry season
- Issues related to forest land use for the 900 MW Arun III and 669 MW Lower Arun hydropower projects being built by Indian government companies
- Approval for exporting more electricity from Nepal to India
- Import of electricity by Nepal during winter months
Minister Ghising informed that Nepal currently has approval to import the required electricity only until the second week of Poush and requested the Indian government to allow uninterrupted import for a few more months.
He also requested:
- A one-time approval system for exporting electricity through India’s Day Ahead Market and Real-Time Market, instead of having to renew approval every year
- Permission to export an additional 20 MW of electricity to Bangladesh using India’s transmission infrastructure
Ghising added that Nepal’s ministries and the Investment Board were coordinating to resolve forest-land issues in Arun III and Lower Arun. He also requested additional assistance from India’s EXIM Bank for transmission line construction.
In response, Additional Secretary Mahawar urged Nepal to help resolve the challenges faced by Indian companies working on hydropower projects. He said that electricity trade and transmission infrastructure development between Nepal and India are progressing into a new phase with significant achievements.
The meeting was attended by Energy Ministry Secretaries Sarita Dawadi and Chiranjivi Chataut, Joint Secretary Sandeep Kumar Dev, officials from Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (South Asia Division), and officers from the Indian Embassy in Nepal.
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