"We have demanded Rs 20 billion from the government as NEA has extra requirements this year due to the ambitious programs launched by the government," NEA Executive Director Uttar Kumar Shrestha told myrepublica.com.
The government, while launching the current budget, announced a program of generating 10,000 MW of electricity in the next 10 years.
Besides the government budget, NEA, the government’s distribution monopoly, has its own huge revenue income. NEA´s total revenue for the last fiscal year was Rs 16 billion.
According to Shrestha, the new budget allocation will be invested in the development of several new and under-construction hydro projects including 30-MW Chameliya Hydroelectric Project, 60-MW Trishuli-3A, 44-MW Trishuli-3B, 309-MW Tamakoshi and 27-MW Rahughat Hydroelectric Project.
Another focus in the coming days will be building transmission lines in the country. Bottleneck situation in transmission lines in several places is one of the major obstacles in hydropower development.
Likewise, NEA will invest the budget in implementing the government program to distribute CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs to the people at subsidized price.
While declaring a power crisis in the country earlier this year, the government had announced to launch a "buy one get one free" scheme to attract people towards using CFL bulbs as a part of a plan to tackle the acute power shortage in the country.
The National Planning Commission is collecting information from the ministries and several agencies regarding their requirements and demands under the coming budget. The Finance Ministry is working on budget allocations as the fiscal year of the government of Nepal starts in July.
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