On Dec 9, in Kathmandu, Nepal’s Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Kul Man Ghising, asked India to let Nepal export an extra 20 MW of power to Bangladesh through Indian transmission lines. Since last year, a three‑way pact between Nepal, India and Bangladesh has enabled Nepal to send 40 MW to Bangladesh every year from June 15 to Nov 15. Ghising made the request during a Tuesday meeting with India’s Additional Secretary (North) at the Ministry of External Affairs, Munu Mahawar, according to the minister’s secretariat.
The appeal follows a bilateral deal reached with Bangladesh at a joint steering‑committee meeting in Dhaka in late November, which says Bangladesh will purchase an additional 40 MW from Nepal once the required procedures are finalized. Nepali officials said more electricity could be shipped to Bangladesh via the existing transmission network if India consents to use its infrastructure, but they remain uncertain how India will react given the tense India‑Bangladesh relations since last year’s crisis that saw Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seek refuge in India.
Bangladesh was excluded from the recent South Asia Power Summit (Bhutan, India and Nepal) held in New Delhi and organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry. During the same meeting, Ghising also urged India to extend funding through the Line of Credit (LoC) facility of the Export-Import Bank for new transmission lines. Major projects such as the Koshi Corridor in eastern Nepal and the Modi–Lekhnath line in the west were financed under an Exim Bank LoC. The 132‑kV Solu Corridor, a 90‑km double‑circuit line linking remote northeastern regions to the national grid, was inaugurated on April 2, 2022 by the two countries’ prime ministers, then Nepal’s Sher Bahadur Deuba visiting New Delhi.
Ghising called on India to drop the annual renewal requirement for Nepal’s power exports to India’s Day‑Ahead and Real‑Time markets, and instead grant a permanent one‑time approval. The two sides also tackled challenges faced by Indian‑developed power projects. Ghising confirmed that his ministry and the Investment Board Nepal are coordinating to resolve issues related to the use of forest land for the 669‑MW Lower Arun and 900‑MW Arun 3 projects, which are being built by the state‑owned Indian company SLVN Limited on Nepal’s Arun River. Meanwhile, Additional Secretary Mahawar requested a meeting with Nepal’s interim Prime Minister, Sushila Karki, to discuss broader bilateral cooperation, as noted by the Prime Minister’s Office.
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