Kathmandu, January 4:

The government has finally unveiled the 25 year long Water Plan, which was to have become operational from 2002, on Wednesday.

While making the Water Plan public, the assistant minister for water resources, Binod Kumar Shah said that due to financial, legal and institutional constraints, the plan might be difficult to implement.

The Water Plan, to be implemented by 2027 to generate 4,000 MW electricity, is estimated to cost Rs 1,200 billion. The government aims to generate money from its sources and also donors to implement the ambitious plan.

The plan aims to provide better irrigation to help boost agriculture, access to electricity to all, bring about social parity and help meet the poverty alleviation goals of the country, In terms of investment, the share of hydropower is highest (42 per cent) followed by irrigation (22 per cent), drinking water and sanitation (19 per cent), rural electrification (seven per cent) and others (less than five per cent).

Shah himself said that the plan is ambitious and it will require ‘cooperation’ from all sides in order to be realised. Decentralisation and participatory approach will be crucial, he added. We should treat water as a ‘economic goods’ and focus on enhancing economic status of the people through the generation of electricity across the country and exporting some of it to India, he said. He said that cabinet has already endorsed the plan on principal.

According to Shital Babu Regmi, executive secretary of Water and Energy Commission under the ministry of water resources, the plan particularly focuses on agriculture which alone contributes to over 40 per cent of the total GDP of the country. Regmi envisaged hydropower to contribute greatly to sustainable growth in the agriculture sector, help to reduce poverty. It will also boost drinking water supply.

By 2007, the government wants to take the hydropower generating capacity to 700 MW in order to meet domestic need. By 2017, 2,100 MW hydropower electricity generation is planned and by 2027, 4,000 MW electricity will be generated. In between, proposed action programmes such as developing cost-effective micro, small and medium hydropower projects, enhancing rural electrification, improving power system planning, encouraging private investment in hydropower development and electric power distribution and power sector reforms are scheduled to be carried out, said Regmi.

Mahendra Nath Aryal, water resources secretary said that the plan was introduced to ensure efficiency, equity and social justice by providing access to electricity to all people.

Aryal said, by 2025 India will become a ‘power crunch’ country and it is likely to eye Nepal’s enormous hydropower potentials. India itself has stated that tangible cooperation is needed with Nepal in the track II level, he said.

Therefore, water resources that hold tremendous potential, need to be exploited effectively in a coordinated manner.

The government in its 10th plan has earmarked about Rs 113 billion for hydropower development alone.