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.

No Trishuli 3 'A' expansion without your consensus: PM to ex-ministers

Following criticism from former ministers and opposition leaders, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has assured them that he will not take any decision relating to the 60 MW Trishuli 3 ´A´ hydropower project without the formers´ consensus.
"The PM told us at a meeting on Tuesday that he would not take any decision relating to Trishuli 3 ´A´," former energy minister and CPN-UML leader Gokarna Bista told Republica. "We briefed him on the loss the country would face if a decision was taken to increase the capacity of the project from 60 to 90 MW."
Former ministers including Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, Surendra Pandey, Gokarna Bista, Pradeep Nepal and Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani held a meeting on Tuesday and intensified their meetings with top party leaders to create pressure on the government not to take any decision towards increasing the project capacity.
The government has taken a loan of USD 89 million from the Chinese Exim Bank for work on the project, which is being developed by Chinese contractor China Gezhouba Group Co.
The government is mulling increasing the project capacity, adding another USD 43 million to the cost.
"There is no point increasing the capacity since that is not going to help us to generate power in the dry season," Krishna Prasad Dulal, a hydro expert who was sacked from membership of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) board on Monday after he resisted moves to increase capacity at Trishuli 3 ´A´.
"I don´t see any benefit to the country in increasing the capacity; rather, it will be a loss," Dulal said.
According to him, an NEA study shows that the project can be developed at just USD 111 million even if the target is 90 MW.
Additionally, at the time of signing the contract, the Chinese contractor had agreed to develop 90 MW at just USD 111 million, according to Dr Mahat. "We can sense irregularities and chances of misuse of national resources in this whole process," he said.
"We have been visiting Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Sushil Koirala and Jhala Nath Khanal to urge them to pressure the government not to increase capacity at Trishuli 3 ´A´," Bista said.
"Meanwhile, the PM, who was also present at the three-party meeting to settle the current political deadlock, assured us that he wouldn´t take any decision without consulting the former finance and energy ministers."
The former ministers had held a meeting following a report a couple of weeks back that the government was taking steps to increase the project capacity. "Taking a decision involving millions of dollars at a time when there is no parliament or parliamentary committees to check executive branch decisions is not acceptable to us," Dr Mahat said. "The government´s moves towards increasing the project capacity are unreasonable."
"There is no point increasing the capacity since it will just delay the project implementation and the country will suffer a tarrif loss of Rs 4 billion due to the delay," Dr Mahat said.
Sources close to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Minister (OPMCM) disclosed that the government was working constantly on increasing the capacity of the project. "The decision to appoint Chief Secretary Lila Mani Poudyal as chairman of the board at NEA is a part of government strategy to increasing capacity," a high-level official at OPMCM said on condition of anonymity.
Coincidently, the government decided to appoint Poudyal as chair of the NEA board on Tuesday evening after Bhattarai gave word to the former ministers not to move ahead without consulting them.
"I think the government is moving ahead with a decision to increase the capacity," the source said. "The PM decided to appoint Poudyal as board chair after Energy Secretary Hari Ram Koirala proved unable to manage the intricacies of a decision to increase the capacity of the project.