Kathmandu, June 22

Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to jointly invest in some feasible hydropower projects in Nepal.

A two-day Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting on energy cooperation between the two countries has also decided to hold talks with India to export power from Nepal to Bangladesh by utilising electricity transmission lines of India.

A meeting of the energy secretaries from the two countries on Friday decided to make joint investments in projects like the 1,110-megawatt Sunkoshi II and 536MW Sunkoshi III reservoir hydropower projects.

Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI), informed that the meeting agreed to jointly invest in hydropower projects and collaborate on alternative energy besides exporting electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh.

“We held discussions on some other issues on enhancing energy trade and investment between the two countries,” said Ghimire, adding that both the nations have also agreed to build a new high-voltage transmission line to Bangladesh through India.

The second meeting between the respective authorities of the two countries was held after Nepal and Bangladesh inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on energy cooperation in August last year in Kathmandu. The first meeting was also held in Kathmandu.

The Nepali delegation in the JSC meeting was led by Ghimire while the Bangladeshi team was led by Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem, secretary at the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources of Bangladesh.

As per the previous pact, Nepal and Bangladesh had agreed to cooperate on electricity generation, development of hydroelectricity, cross-border transmission lines, development of efficient human resources in the hydroelectric sector, promotion of government-to-government and private sector investments, grid connectivity and investment in renewable energy, among others.

Bangladesh has already formulated a policy to import 9,000 megawatts of electricity from Nepal by 2040. For this, construction of transmission line, selection of projects and cooperation on alternative energy are in focus.