Jhapa eyes India-bound Bhutan surplus power
Raju Adhikari
JHAPA, May 30: Businessmen and politicians in Jhapa have proposed to the government to import the surplus from the electricity that India buys from Bhutan to provide relief from load-shedding in the district.
The businessmen and political leaders, who have already furnished a formal proposal to the government, claimed that 250 MW of energy bought from Bhutan remains as surplus in Siliguri, West Bengal and India is ready to sell the surplus if Nepal were to make a formal request.
Jhapa is among the districts worst hit by power crisis as just 5-6 MW of energy is provided through the national grid, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority, while only 10 MW of electricity imported from Kataiya of Bihar to Biratnagar is transmitted to Jhapa.
Jhapa Chairman of CPN-UML Robin Koirala, who represented the political parties in the delegation to Kathmandu at the start of May, said India has already constructed high-voltage transmission line to Naxalbadi from Siliguri and if India were to extend it by 10 kilometers to Kakarbhitta Nepal would just have to lay another 20 kilometers transmission line to feed the Anarmani sub-station.
Ram Kewal Mahato at the Anarmani office of NEA said the proposal was feasible but added that it will depend on the agreement between India and Nepal. “We made the proposal after consulting the technical experts and if the government accepts the proposal then Jhapa and other eastern districts of the country would be free from power shortage,” Koirala stated.
The regional transmission station in Duhabi, Sunsari put the peak demand of electricity in the eastern region at 200 MW and importing 250 MW from Siliguri will more than fulfill that demand. The businessmen and industrialists argued that importing electricity from Siliguri remains the only viable option for the eastern region with no big projects to be added to the national grid in the near future.
A central member of the Federation of the Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), who led the delegation to Kathmandu, said the government was positive about the proposal.
Chairman of Jhapa Chamber of Commerce and Industries Tika Raj Dhakal said 7 MW can also be imported from Galgaliya of India to Bhadrapur to fulfill power demand at the district headquarters and surrounding areas.
Source: Republica daily