FNCCI condemns NEA withdrawal

The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), the apex body for the private sector, has condemned the Nepal Electricity Authority’s (NEA’s) move to bow to critics’ pressure and withdraw from its earlier decision to upgrade the capacity of the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower project from 60 to 90.
Issuing a statement on Thursday, FNCCI said the government had to assess all aspects of the project before taking any decision.
“It is not appropriate that the government keeps changing its decision under the influence of some people,” reads the FNCCI statement.
FNCCI, which had earlier brought all major political parties together to agree on the common agenda of developing hydropower projects in the country, said government decisions should be made based on the larger interest of the nation.
FNCCI said the government should have acted in a more mature manner regarding the upgrading of the project capacity in the beginning.
“These kinds of activities send a negative message to the global market,” FNCCI said. “We urge the government, and specially the Ministry of Energy (MoE) and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), to be confident about its decisions and activities.”
The NEA board had decided to upgrade the capacity of the project on May 31 but then withdrew the decision on Wednesday after protest from the employees’ unions at the NEA.

Trishuli 3 'A' upgrade decision withdrawn

Following widespread criticism, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) board on Wednesday withdrew its earlier decision to upgrade the capacity of Upper Trishuli 3 ´A´ from 60 to 90 megawatts.
However, the NEA board of directors has not acknowledged that the capacity upgrade decision was not in the interest of the country. “The struggle by the employees unions at the NEA disturbed normal life of the people and day-to-day operation of NEA,” reads a press statement issued after the NEA board meeting.
The NEA board had taken a decision to upgrade the capacity of the project on May 31. Following the decision of the NEA board, senior leaders of the major political parties, except UCPN (Maoist), had urged the government to revoke the decision. They had also handed over a memorandum to Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi demanding withdrawal of the decision.
Similarly, trade unions at NEA had launched series of protest programs against the capacity upgrade decision.
Earlier, NEA had published a press statement in the favor of the upgrade decision in most of the major dailies. “The decision to upgrade the capacity of the project is in the interest of the country,” reads the statement released on Wednesday. “But we have been forced to withdraw the decision due to protests by trade unions that badly hampered normal life and NEA operations.”
The run-of -the-river type project is being developed by Chinese contractor China Gezhouba Company Group at a cost of US$ 89.18 million through soft loan from Exim Bank of China.
Trade unions and leaders of various political parties had claimed that the decision involved huge corruption. “It is illegal to upgrade the project that is contracted under the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) model,” said politburo member of the CPN-UML Gokarna Bista. “Now, the Chinese contractor should focus on developing the project on time.”

Govt enforces minimum pay for workers

The government has enforced the newly announced minimum remuneration for workers in the formal sector from Monday.
The Minimum Wage Fixation Committee, which comprises of representatives from trade unions, concerned government offices and employers, had recently fixed minimum monthly remuneration of Rs 8,000, including Rs 2,900 allowance, and daily wage at Rs 318. Before this, workers were drawing minimum salary of Rs 6,200 per month and Rs 231 per day.

Trade unions of employees at NEA cut power supply to ministers' quarters

rade unions of employees at Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) cut power supply to ministers´ quarters in Pulchowk for two hours on Sunday as part of their protest against the NEA board´s decision to upgrade the capacity of the Upper Trishuli 3 ´A´ hydropower project from 60 to 90 MW.
“We will continue to cut power supply to the ministers´ quarters on Monday and Tuesday as well,” Ram Prasad Rimal, chairman of NEA Employees´ Union, told Republica.
All four trade unions of employees at NEA -- NEA Employees Association, NEA Employees Union, NEA Employees Council and Nepal National Employees Association - are protesting the decision.
The unions on Saturday turned away the NEA management´s proposal for talks. They reached the talk venue on Sunday only to find the coordinator of the board´s talk team absent.
“Our demand is clear. We won´t withdraw protest until the NEA board scraps its decision to upgrade capacity of the project,” added Rimal.
The run-of-the-river project, which is being developed by Chinese contractor China Gezhouba Group Company Limited, is courting controversy after the NEA board decided to upgrade the capacity by violating the existing rules.
Meanwhile, NEA employees staged pen down protest in NEA head office on Sunday.

NECT-HYM loses Kali Gandaki Gorge hydro project

The 164 MW Kali Gandaki Gorge hydroproject has slipped from the hands of NECT-HYM after it failed to get power generation license from the Department of Electricity Development (DoED).
The Department of Electricity Development (DoED) on Sunday wrote a letter to NECT-HYM, notifying it about the cancellation of its application for generation license.
“The company failed to demonstrate strong financial sources to develop the project. It also couldn´t prepare a satisfactory environment impact assessment (EIA) report for the project," Gokarna Raj Pantha, senior divisional engineer and spokesperson at the DoED, told Republica.
The company had also approached the department for project development agreement (PDA).
"But it hadn´t paid application fee for PDA negotiation,” Pantha said. “We can´t issue generation license before the EIA study is completed.”
The government decision to cancel application license for power generation has pushed the Rs 25 billion-project into uncertainty.
"We are hopeful that other genuine developers will come up with strong financial sources to develop the project," Pantha said.
The project based in Mustang and Myagdi districts needs to develop 155-km 220 kV transmission line to connect the power generated by it to the national grid.
"There developer has no proper plan for the transmission line as well," added Pantha.
Hydro Solution, a domestic firm, was supported to provide assistance to develop the project. Gyanendra Lal Pradhan, chairman of the Hydro Solution, said investors from India, USA and Canada are interested to put their money in the project.
As a part of discouraging the trend of holding license of hydropower projects but without intention of developing them, the government raised the survey and generation license fee in November.
“The upward revision in survey and generation lice
nse fee has helped us identify the genuine developers,” said Pantha

ADB shows interest to invest in Sunkoshi II, III hydro projects

After providing soft loan worth US$150 for the development of reservoir-type 140-megawatt Tanahun hydropower project, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has expressed interest to invest in development of two large hydropower projects, namely, Sunkoshi-II (1,110 MW) and Sunkoshi-III (536 MW).
´A team of the ADB completed field studies of the two projects this week,´ a source at the Department of Electricity Development (DoED) told Republica on Saturday. ´The ADB and the DoED are also holding preliminary-level discussions on development of the projects.´
According to the source, the DoED had shared proposals of the two projects with the ADB few weeks ago. ´Since then, the ADB has conducted field studies,´ the source said.
The source also informed that the investment modality and loan amount for the two projects based in Ramechhap district would be finalized in the near future.
Confirming the development, Gokarna Raj Pantha, senior divisional engineer and spokesperson at the DoED, said the ADB has principally agreed to develop the projects.
´The DoED and the ADB will sit for negotiations in the near future,´ Pantha said. ´The ADB is also interested in investing in the renewable energy sector in the region.´
The government has included Sunkoshi-II and Sunkoshi-III projects in its Hydropower Master Plan. Both the projects are classified as run of the river.
The ADB, which has already expressed commitment to extend a soft loan to develop Tanahun hydropower project, has said it would be interested in increasing its investment in the country"s hydropower sector, according to Pantha.
Meanwhile, the government has started conducting studies of eight other projects. These projects include: Bheri Babai (48 MW) in Surkhet, Budhi Ganga (22 MW) in Accham, Chepe Khola (8.27 MW) in Lamjung, Dotighad (5.78 MW) in Dadheldhura, Ikhuwa Khola (8.1 MW) in Shankhusawa, Kabeli-III (12 MW) in Taplejung, Madi Khola (12.25 MW) in Rolpa and Nalsyaugad (400 MW) in Jajarkot.

NEA unions protesting Upper Trishuli 3A upgrade reject talks

The four employees union of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) that have launched protest against the NEA decision to upgrade the 60 MW Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project to 90 megawatts refused to sit for talks with the NEA management Saturday. The unions say they will not stop the protests until the upgrade decision is scrapped.
´We have just one demand and the NEA management cannot fulfill it,´ Ram Prasad Rimal, chairman of the NEA Employees Union, said. ´We demand that the decision to upgrade the project should be scrapped.´
The four employees" unions launched protest last Friday. ´We want to make it clear that talks are not necessary. The government can simply scrap the upgrade decision and we will immediately end protest and resume work,´ Rimal said.
The NEA management had invited the unions for dialogue regarding the NEA board"s decision to upgrade the capacity. ´The management said that it wanted to provide us additional information regarding the upgrade decision but we are not interested,´ Rimal told Republica on Saturday.
´We have further intensified the protest programs as the government didn"t listen to our demand so far,´ Rimal said.
The four employees" unions include: NEA Employees Association, NEA Employees Unions, NEA Employees Council and Nepal National Employees Association.
Explaining the details of the protest programs, Rimal said they would cut power supply to the ministerial quarters in Pulchowk for two hours from 10:30 am on Sunday. ´We will also cut power supply to the NEA head office for four hours Sunday and stage pen down protest throughout the day,´ Rimal said. ´The employees" unions have decided to stage a pen down protest for four hours in all NEA offices across the country.´
The controversial decision to upgrade the capacity of the project has been criticized from various quarters including by former energy and finance ministers. Senior leaders including central committee member of the Nepali Congress (NC) Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, central committee member of NC Prakash Sharan Mahat, politburo members of CPN-UML Surendra Pandey and Gokarna Bista and senior leader of the Rastriya Prajantra Party Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani have jointly submitted a memorandum to the chairman of the interim election council Khil Raj Regmi to revoke the upgrade decision Thursday.
In their six-point memorandum, the leaders have argued why the project should not be upgraded. ´The project"s upgrade is not in the interest of the country,´ reads the memorandum. ´Upgrading the project"s capacity will further deepen the load-shedding problem in the country.´
Upper Trishuli 3A is a run of the river project being developed by the NEA with China Gezhouba Group Company Limited as contractor. The Exim Bank of China has provided soft loan of US$ 89 million for the project.