Kathmandu. Chairman of independent power producers’ association (IPPAN) Ganesh Karki has complained that the current energy policy adopted by the government through the budget is trying to exclude the private sector from hydropower. He was speaking at a discussion on infrastructure sector and implementation organized jointly by the Society of Nepal Infrastructure Journalists and The Federation of Contractors’ Association of Nepal (FCAN) here on Wednesday.
According to him, the government’s policy of signing power purchase agreement (PPA) through ‘take and pay’ method based only on the balance of production and consumption will have a serious impact on long-term energy development. “We are moving ahead with a target of generating 28,500 MW of electricity. Domestic and foreign private investment is involved in this,” karki said. But the government is making policy changes thinking that hydropower is not necessary, thinking that production has reached now, he said.
‘Policy to discourage the private sector’
According to Karki, although the budget says that PPAs will be done only by balancing electricity generation and consumption, this concept is not practical. “If this means that the current production will reach, then this policy is a sign that the private sector will be sidelined,” he said.
He said that in the latest thinking of the government, there is a tendency to limit the consumption of electricity to domestic purposes only. “An environment has been created in the industries where diesel can be supplied. This is detrimental to energy security in the long run,” karki said.
He said that the government has taken a policy to buy electricity only when I need it. He warned that if such a policy is implemented, the private sector will be forced to look for alternatives on its own. ’
Request not to ignore private sector contributions to hydropower{
“The private sector has not only invested heavily in the development of hydropower but has also contributed significantly to infrastructure such as roads,” karki reminded. However, he expressed concern that the current policy was aimed at excluding the private sector in hydropower. “On the one hand, the government is talking about bringing the private sector in infrastructure and on the other hand, it is trying to exclude the private sector from hydropower. This will seriously affect the cooperation between the government and the private sector. ’
Stating that long-term thinking is needed on energy security, he urged the government to review the policy immediately.
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