Govt likely to increase capacity of Trishuli 3 'A'

The government is mulling over taking a decision to increase the capacity of Trishuli 3 ´A´ from 60 to 90 MW through the cabinet bypassing the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) board after some of its board members strongly objected the idea, a source privy to the issue said.
Though Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai last week assured the opposition leaders he would decide on the issue only with their consensus, officials said the government had instructed the NEA to move ahead with the proposal.
“However, NEA could not move the proposal ahead as some of its board members strongly objected,” said the source. “Following resistance, the Ministry of Energy (MoE) is now preparing to directly forward the proposal to the cabinet to get its approval,” he told Republica.
Concerned MoE officials expressed their ignorance on such a move. “No decision so far has been made to submit a proposal to the cabinet to upgrade Trishuli 3 ´A´,” said Energy Secretary Hari Ram Koirala.
“But we may do that in the future. It is still undecided so I cannot say anything now," Koirala told Republica over the phone.
He added that upgrading Trishuli 3 ´A´ was in national interest and the government should move the plan ahead. "Upgrading Trishuli 3 ´A´ will help us utilize resources optimally," Koirala said.
Rameshwore Yadav, managing director of NEA agreed with Koirala.
“Trishuli 3 ´A´ upgrading plan was politicized for no good reason,” said Yadav. "Now that it has been politicized, NEA is not in a position to take any decision in this regard," he added.
Chief Secretary Lila Mani Poudyal, who was recently appointed the Chair of the NEA board, did not make much comment on the issue.
"If Ministry of Energy (MoE) wishes to decide on the case of Trishuli 3 ´A´ it will need to submit an agenda to the cabinet. That has not been done so far. I can´t tell you now what it will do in the future," Poudyal said.
The government has been building 60 MW Trishuli 3 ´A´ with US$ 89 million soft loans from Exim Bank of China. It recently stood in favor of upgrading the project after the Chinese contractor -- China Gezhouba Group Co - informed NEA that it can upgrade the project to 90 MW if the government spent US$ 132 million in total.
But the move drew instant criticism from the opposition leaders, former Energy and Finance Ministers, and also some of the NEA board members. They opposed the idea of pumping in additional loans in the project mainly because Trishuli 3 ´A´ can operate in full capacity only in rainy season.
"Increasing its capacity will be meaningless because in dry season, when we need most of the power, it will be operating at lowest capacity,” Krishna Prasad Dulal, former NEA board member said.
Two NEA board members, namely Bishwa Prakash Gautam and Mohan Raj Pant too were strongly against the upgradation of Trishuli 3 ´A´, according to the source. Tek Nath Acharya, another NEA board member is in its favor.
Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi, who is also a board member of NEA, stands in favor of whatever the government thinks is appropriate. Dambar Bahadur Nepali, another newly appointed board member, however, has not openely expressed his opinion on the issue.