Power trade agreement would be reached with Bangladesh soon: Energy Minister

Chitwan: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, has said the power trade agreement would be soon reached with Bangladesh. Talking to journalists at Bharatpur airport today, he made it clear that the announcement of the agreement would also be made within this year.

“Some topics remain to be formalized and this is also in the final phase. It goes into execution once the agreement is signed,” the Energy Minister said. Minister Basnet further added that Nepal is going to be self-sufficient both in the dry and monsoon period, saying, “We are going to be fully self-sufficient in electricity and all the problems would be resolved after this.”

He claimed that the problem of over-production of electricity during the rainy season and its shortage in the dry season would be resolved very soon. As he said, works are on for making the distribution system systematic by increasing the production. Stating that the electrification which covered only 50 per cent area has been expanded to 90 per cent area, he claimed the problems seen at present would be resolved soon. “The problems seen at present would be resolved in the coming dry season.

The government is carrying out works of systematizing the energy production, transmission and distribution through an integrated plan,” he asserted. Along with this, the topic of power trade in an accessible manner has also been linked with the integrated plan, according to the Minister. “We have been carrying out works of reforming the policy and laws for making all these topics more effective,” he added.