Direction to Halt West Seti Agreement
By Kantipur reporter
Kathmandu- Public Accounts Committee of the legislative parliament has directed the government to halt the new agreement of the debatable West Seti hydroelectric project (750 MW reservoir based), to be done by Ministerial Council, questioning the rights of Nepal in relation to the distribution of water.
After the direction of the committee, the agreement between West Seti hydro (constructor of the West Seti) and government has fall into perplexity. Earlier, Ministry of Energy had started the process of making decision on the agreement in the ministerial council.
Member of the committee Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani said that they have given direction to stop the further progress of the proposed agreement as there is lots of confusion on the various points including Nepal's rights on the water and benefits to be received. "Most of the things in the proposed agreement are not in favour of Nepal", he said to Kantipur on Sunday, "We have given written direction, not to do this kind of agreement" he added.
As this project will irrigate more than 2 lakhs hecter of Indian land by sinking more than 3000 hecter of Nepali land, so extensive discussion is required before going ahead with the project to settle down Nepal's right on the water in future, Lohani said.
"Whether Nepal should get any benefit or not while selling electricity generated by plunging various lands of Nepal at a cheaper price to India? " Lohani said, "National interest is safeguarded in other countries while doing such agreement".
Lohani mentioned that it will be difficult to change even the minor things in the future, if Nepal's benefit and the matters regarding the rights are not secured before the construction of the project. "After the agreement, India will claim its right, what will we do at such situation".
Lohani also mentioned that because of the various points mentioned in the agreement, other direct foreign investor will also seek for the same right as of West Seti and it will create more problems just because of that instance. In the proposal it is mentioned that Nepal will have to compensate for the loss in the project by the strikes and shut down.
West Seti, which has done the agreement to provide 10 per cent of free electricity to Nepal, is in the process of execution since 1997. Indian Government's energy broker company Power Trading Corporation (PTC) has done the agreement letter to purchase the electricity at 5 cent per unit.
According to Lohani the situation is such that electricity of West Seti is to be sold at cheaper price and has to buy it at expensive price from India. " We are selling our electricity for 3 Rupees per unit and to solve the problem of load shedding we have to purchase it in 6 Rupees per unit from India, is that fair?", questioned Lohani.
Government decision to invest in the West Seti project by taking loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in a commercial interest rate is also heavily criticized. The decision has been taken already to take 45 million US $ from the ADB in a commercial interest rate. Project has informed that they had to do new agreement to take concurrence from the ADB board to invest in the West Seti. In 1994 agreement was done between the government and the Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation (SMEC) of Australia regarding the construction of the project in the West Seti river of far-western region.
Source: Kantipur Daily (Nepali), August 3, 2009 (19 Saun 2066)
Unofficial translation
Kathmandu- Public Accounts Committee of the legislative parliament has directed the government to halt the new agreement of the debatable West Seti hydroelectric project (750 MW reservoir based), to be done by Ministerial Council, questioning the rights of Nepal in relation to the distribution of water.
After the direction of the committee, the agreement between West Seti hydro (constructor of the West Seti) and government has fall into perplexity. Earlier, Ministry of Energy had started the process of making decision on the agreement in the ministerial council.
Member of the committee Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani said that they have given direction to stop the further progress of the proposed agreement as there is lots of confusion on the various points including Nepal's rights on the water and benefits to be received. "Most of the things in the proposed agreement are not in favour of Nepal", he said to Kantipur on Sunday, "We have given written direction, not to do this kind of agreement" he added.
As this project will irrigate more than 2 lakhs hecter of Indian land by sinking more than 3000 hecter of Nepali land, so extensive discussion is required before going ahead with the project to settle down Nepal's right on the water in future, Lohani said.
"Whether Nepal should get any benefit or not while selling electricity generated by plunging various lands of Nepal at a cheaper price to India? " Lohani said, "National interest is safeguarded in other countries while doing such agreement".
Lohani mentioned that it will be difficult to change even the minor things in the future, if Nepal's benefit and the matters regarding the rights are not secured before the construction of the project. "After the agreement, India will claim its right, what will we do at such situation".
Lohani also mentioned that because of the various points mentioned in the agreement, other direct foreign investor will also seek for the same right as of West Seti and it will create more problems just because of that instance. In the proposal it is mentioned that Nepal will have to compensate for the loss in the project by the strikes and shut down.
West Seti, which has done the agreement to provide 10 per cent of free electricity to Nepal, is in the process of execution since 1997. Indian Government's energy broker company Power Trading Corporation (PTC) has done the agreement letter to purchase the electricity at 5 cent per unit.
According to Lohani the situation is such that electricity of West Seti is to be sold at cheaper price and has to buy it at expensive price from India. " We are selling our electricity for 3 Rupees per unit and to solve the problem of load shedding we have to purchase it in 6 Rupees per unit from India, is that fair?", questioned Lohani.
Government decision to invest in the West Seti project by taking loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in a commercial interest rate is also heavily criticized. The decision has been taken already to take 45 million US $ from the ADB in a commercial interest rate. Project has informed that they had to do new agreement to take concurrence from the ADB board to invest in the West Seti. In 1994 agreement was done between the government and the Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation (SMEC) of Australia regarding the construction of the project in the West Seti river of far-western region.
Source: Kantipur Daily (Nepali), August 3, 2009 (19 Saun 2066)
Unofficial translation
