NEA staff to agitate against Trishuli III 'A' upgrade

Following the government´s move to upgrade the capacity of Trishuli III ´A´ from 60 to 90 megawatts, employees of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) have announced a month-long protest against the decision.
“We are against the government´s decision to upgrade the capacity of Trishuli III ´A´ since this will just create loss for the country and NEA will be in greater trouble,” Janardan Bhattarai, president of NEA Employees´ Association, said at a press meet organized in capital on Thursday.
All five employees´ organizations at NEA, such as NEA Employees´ Union and NEA Employees´ Association, have joined hands to protest the government´s decision.
The month-long protest program that begins Friday will comprise different types of symbolic activities in the initial days. “We will be compelled to increase the intensity of the protests if the government doesn´t roll back its decision,” Bhattarai said.
The government last week decided to increase the capacity of Trishuli III ´A´ through a meeting of the councils of ministers. The decision drew huge criticism from the oppositional parties and from experts.
The run-of-the-river project, which is being developed by Chinese contractor China Gezhouba Group Co. with a US$ 89 million soft loan from the Exim Bank of China, will not help address the power shortage in the dry season, experts claim.
“The government´s decision will just inflict additional losses on the NEA,” Bhattarai said. “This decision cannot be acceptable to us.”
According to NEA officials, the decision has only delayed completion of project.
“The government had awarded the project to China Gezhouba under the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model,” Bhattarai said. “It was supposed to be completed by the next 15 months and people would have gotten some relief from the ongoing heafty power shortages.”
He further added that the government´s decision has delayed the project for another three years. Under the EPC model, the contractor designs the installation, procures necessary materials and builds the project.
Earlier, a writ petition was filed at the Supreme Court against the government´s decision. The SC has issued a show cause notice against Prime Minister Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai, the Prime Minister´s Office, the Ministry of Energy, NEA and China Gezhouba, among others.