Nepal: The challenge before Nepal-Bangladesh to get India’s cooperation in electricity trade.
Nepal and Bangladesh have decided to discuss the issue of how they can persuade India to use India’s transmission lines. If India gives permission to do so, then Nepal will be able to sell the excess electricity it produces to Bangladesh. A senior official of Nepal’s Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation has given information about the proposed meeting. This meeting will be held in Bangladesh on May 15 and 15.
The official said that how to persuade India for tripartite cooperation in the purchase and sale of power will be a major issue in the meeting to be held in Dhaka. Nepal wants India to allow it to build a special transmission line from Nepal to Bangladesh on its land. Nepal and Bangladesh do not connect to each other on land. That’s why Nepal will sell its electricity to Bangladesh only if it gets India’s cooperation.
Nepal has hope from India’s recent stand. Nepal officials have pointed out that India has proposed to build an international grid named ‘One Sun One World One Grid’. In this, it has also been said to give priority to the neighboring countries. Nepal and Bangladesh can get its benefit. The ‘One Sun One World One Grid’ initiative was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the International Solar Alliance meeting in 2018. Then Modi had said that the objective of this initiative would be to create a common grid among about 140 countries, through which solar and other clean energy would be transferred.
In April last year, India and Nepal issued a joint vision paper on cooperation in the power sector. It was said to include Bangladesh and Bhutan in the cooperation under it. At present, Nepal wants to sell 40 to 50 MW power to Bangladesh through the existing Indian transmission line. This issue will be discussed in the meeting to be held in Dhaka. Nepal also wants to sell 40 to 50 MW power to India. India has also shown interest in taking power from Nepal.
But according to observers, China’s inroads in Nepal’s power sector remain a stumbling block in power cooperation between India and Nepal. India has indicated that it is not ready to buy electricity generated from power plants or allow the use of its transmission lines that have Chinese investments or components. The real challenge before both Nepal and Bangladesh is to find a solution to this problem.
Another official of Nepal’s Ministry of Energy said that whether or not India should be included in the power cooperation has not yet been discussed with Bangladesh. It is Nepal’s view that the inclusion of India would mark the beginning of trilateral cooperation. Bangladesh’s opinion about this will be known in the meeting to be held in Dhaka. Although observers say that Bangladesh will have any objection on this issue, its chances are very less.
