KATHMANDU, June 23: A delegation from the Independent Power Producers´ Association of Nepal (IPPAN) has met Minister for Energy Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and put forward demands for accelerating hydropower development in the country. [break]
President of IPPAN, Dr Sandip Shah,raised issues concerning tax holiday, VAT exemption, mortgage tax, wheeling policy, differential tariffs, reasonable tariff rates for power producers, construction of access roads and transmission lines under BOOT system, etc.. According to IPPAN, these are issues hindering the development of hydropower in Nepal.
Dr Shah pointed out that the power purchase rates offered by Nepal Electricity Authority were far from sufficient to enthuse power producers to invest in the power sector. He added that if the issues raised by IPPAN are addressed properly, many Independent Power Producers (IPPs ) “would make a beeline to generate power and help remove load-shedding in the country.”
Dr Shah also dealt with amendments to the proposed Nepal Electricity Regulatory Commission Act-2066 and the Electricity Act-2066 being proposed by IPPAN. IPPAN has been lobbying for the amendments for quite some time.
Minister Mahat said that the private sector will not come forward to generate electricity unless there is a profit margin for the investment. He stressed that the government is going to seriously grapple with the problem of load-shedding and therefore the ministry would try to address the issues raised by IPPAN to every extent possible. He added that more interactions were needed between IPPAN and the Energy Ministry in order to arrive at conclusions regarding changes to be made in the power sector.
Also present on the occasion were IPPAN officials Dr Subarna Das Shrestha, Kiran Malla, Bijaya Man Sherchan, Girija Nandan Mishra, Suresh Adhikary and Pradeep Gangol.