Nepal is gifted with vast water resources and is often said to rank second only to Brazil in terms of this strategic commodity. But what’s the use of merely harping on such national resources that cannot be fully translated into tangible benefits for the general public. Owing mainly to resource crunch, lack of infrastructure and technological know-how, Nepal has not been able to capitalise on its potential. After a cumbersome exercise, the government has eventually unveiled an ambitious National Water Plan to be implemented in full gear by 2027 for which about Rs.1,219 billion is expected to be generated through internal as well as external sources. As agriculture is the main economic activity of Nepalis, it contributes over 40 per cent of the GDP. A lot more would be achieved if irrigation facilities could be upgraded through this plan. Moreover, the target of generating 4,000 MW of electricity can be the key to Nepal’s prosperity.

But this cannot be realised without the cooperation of the private sector and foreign investment when it comes to building infrastructure and importing technical expertise. All the stakeholders can benefit only if Nepal is able to export cost-effective electricity in a sustainable manner to the burgeoning economies in the immediate neighbourhood.

Doing so also has an added advantage of boosting regional cooperation and strengthening political understanding among the neighbours. Then there are other benefits like flood control mechanism, promotion of fisheries, tourism and navigation, water for drinking and irrigation purposes, rural electrification, employment generation, poverty alleviation as well as sharing of enhanced water-related technical information, just to name a few. It is not that plans have not been made in the past. A plan per se, though important, is not critical to Nepal. The fundamental question is how efficiently it is implemented and what difference does it make in the people’s standard of living.