Dahal expresses his commitment for bringing on track the development projects and improving agricultural production
KATHMANDU, Dec 27: One year after taking the helm of the government, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has painted a rosy picture of the economy, expressing his ‘great achievement’, at a time when the economy is struggling to recover from a number of macroeconomic problems.
Addressing the nation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Dahal spared most of the time to flatter his work done in the past one year. He underscored the government’s achievements in infrastructure development, hydropower construction and modernization of agriculture, among others.
According to Dahal, the country earned Rs 15.27 billion from export of 700 MW of electricity in June through November this year, which was 31.28 percent more than the earnings of the last year. In contrast to Dahal’s statement, the country has still failed to bring India into consent to purchase adequate amounts of electricity, which has led to wastage of the produced electricity.
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The country’s installed capacity has reached 2,892 MW, an addition of 541 MW in the past one year. Compared with the electricity production of 1968, Prime Minister Dahal expressed this as a ‘great achievement’ although his government didn’t have a direct role in the gradual development of the hydropower sector, which took years in the making. In addition, he expressed his delight that India has agreed to purchase 10,000 MW of Nepal’s electricity in the next one decade.
As an initiative to start cross-border electricity trade with China, the northern neighbor has agreed on taking forward the construction of 220 kV Chilime-Kerung transmission line. Although the export of 40 MW of electricity to Bangladesh is limited only to papers, Prime Minister Dahal briefed it as an achievement of the government.
Dahal mentioned taking forward the construction of the Budhi Gandaki storage project and has assured he will leave no stone unturned to ensure financial resources for the project. Progress on the construction of the 900 MW Arun-III and 1,063 MW Upper Arun Hydropower Project were among his main highlights.
According to Dahal, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) inked power purchase agreement for 9,164 MW of electricity to be produced by the private sector. Of these, the PPA for 2,200 MW was signed just in the past one year.
While the majority of the national pride projects have shown dismal performance, Prime Minister Dahal said he has started virtual inspection himself on a regular basis via the action room of his office in Singha Durbar. “The government is planning to carry out cross-check of such projects by using drone technology,” said Dahal expressing his ‘high concern’ for sluggish projects.
Dahal underlined the issues of cutting down trees and land acquisition as the main hurdles for project construction over the years that the government has failed to resolve. He expressed his commitment to seek long-term solutions to the legal, policy and procedural obstacles being faced by the development projects.
He tried to gain credit for the whooping rise in foreign currency reserves due to the high remittance inflows and positive financial balance achieved by the public enterprises including Nepal Airlines Corporation and the NEA. At a time when consumers have suffered from frequent black markets leading to exorbitant rise in prices of essentials like rice, pulses and wheat, the prime minister pointed out the statistics of Nepal Rastra Bank that shows a notable drop in consumer price inflation in the past one year.
Dahal however acknowledged the inefficiency in the government mechanism to raise the capacity of capital expenditure. Stating that the government approved investment worth Rs 292.51 billion in the review period, Dahal said the government would make ‘dramatic’ reform in legal provision and practices related to foreign investment before the government’s announced Investment Summit scheduled for April 21-22, 2024.
