Kathmandu, February 11:

Here is a bit of sweet pie for all of us, who have been bearing the brunt of load-shedding. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) today told the parliamentary Finance Committee that a deal with India to import 40MW of electricity is at the final stage and load-shedding hours could be minimised.

NEA’s managing director Arjun Kumar Karki said the deal is likely to be formalised in a day or two. “India’s Ministry of Energy has given a green signal to supply 40MW of electricity to Nepal,” Karki said. “The deal is in the final stage,” Karki said without elaborating the details. “There is no alternative except importing electricity from India to reduce load-shedding hours before Nepal itself can generate 700MW of electricity.” Karki also suggested using Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) to minimise electricity consumption as an option. He also sought political will and cooperation to check electricity pilferage in and around the Kathmandu Valley. “NEA alone cannot check power pilferages and hooking owing to risk factors. We need political protection,” he said. The NEA also plans to reduce the existing system leakage of 23.5 per cent to 17 per cent within five years.

The committee members advised the NEA to look for ways to minimise the load-shedding hours. NEA asked the parliamentary committee to urge the Finance Ministry to set up a revolving fund of Rs 50 million for the NEA to purchase CFL. “We will work in coordination with the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) on this,” Karki said after getting assurances from the committee of urging the ministry for the revolving budget.

Karki also suggested two-hour halt of work in the factories during peak hours in the evening every day, removing hoarding glow boards, and launching public awareness campaigns as short-time measures to minimise load- shedding.

Karki further said completion of Mid-Marsyangdi, Kulekhani-III and Chameliya projects are long-term measures that will bring down load shedding hours.