Kathmandu, Aug 13: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Deepak Khadka has said that power outage is now a thing of the past for Nepal, and that the rumors about it are baseless.
Responding to questions raised by lawmakers in today’s meeting of the House of Representatives, he expressed confidence that power outage will no longer occur as temporary obstacles are being overcome, systemic reforms implemented and production is being accelerated.
“There is no possibility of its recurrence. Now, even imagining load shedding has become pointless,” he said.
Minister Khadka pointed out the need to prepare a long-term strategic action plan and work accordingly to increase power exports to neighboring countries. Power is currently being sold to India and Bangladesh and last year alone, 2,380 MW of power was exported to India and 30 MW to Bangladesh. According to him, power worth Rs 17.72 billion is currently being exported while Rs 12.92 billion worth of power is being imported, earning the country a profit of about Rs 5 billion.
Minister Khadka said that the current maximum power demand in the country is about 2,400 megawatts and that electricity production during the rainy season will exceed that demand.
The Energy Minister clarified that the ministry has moved forward by adhering to policy stability, transparency and institutional decision-making processes in the context of long-term infrastructure development and investment mobilization in the energy, water resources and irrigation sectors.
