Hydropower Vital For Economic Growth

There are certain sectors which could benefit Nepal immensely. Naturally one of these sectors is the hydropower that holds huge potential for generating and selling large amount of electricity. Then there are the tourism and agriculture sectors, which could also give a boost to the country's economy and benefit the common people. The present government has already declared that almost thirty thousand mega-watts of electricity would be produced within the next twelve years. This has definitely encouraged not only the common citizens but also investors who want to put in shares in this budding industry.

There was a time when the country, though gifted by nature in hydro-power resources, barely could think of producing even one thousand mega-watts of power in ten years. One former Director General of the Nepal Electricity Authority told this writer that the planners only thought of small projects. Some journalists and activists also only talked about the idea of 'small is beautiful,' meaning small projects are good. It was not for nothing that the then high in potential Arun III Project was shelved due to the selfish interest of some individuals.

Consumption demand 

“What we needed then was a project which would provide electricity to the local industries and the people and then we could have gone on to plan about bigger projects after the local needs for electricity was fulfilled”, this former official had said. He gave the example of Thailand, which implemented a ten thousand mega-watt electricity producing project, which not only eased the power consumption demand of that country, but which also provided the authorities the time to then plan for many more years ahead. That is why the present decision of the government to produce more than twenty five megawatts of power in the next twelve years is an encouraging sign and a good indicator for the development of the country.

We all know that electric power should be first given to the local consumers alongside the mid-sized industries all over the nation. We also know that we have to cut down the import of fossil fuels and use electrical appliances besides vehicles to give a boost to the nation's economy. The import of fossil fuels is making a huge dent in our economy and if we can only save the expenses involved in importing this item, we would be contributing immensely to our economy. 

The country's biggest import expenditure is in the import of petro-products. Unfortunately, Nepal does not produce even a drop of fuel though there has been a significant increase in the use of cooking gas as well as vehicles all using fossil fuel on which we are dependent by buying them from abroad.

It is encouraging that the government is now telling the people to use more electric appliances in addition to electric vehicles. This is a far cry from the days when many industries were forced to shut down and the ordinary people too suffered because of many hours of load-shedding. In fact once the country even went through a horrendous period when there was eighteen hours of no electric power per day, an unthinkable situation in any other country. The present NEA leadership has been able to virtually make many places load-shedding free and it is also trying its best to reach electricity to all corners of the country. This is very important and the government can also earn a lot of revenue if all the people have access to electricity, they use electric appliances and more importantly the nation would be saving a lot of money by not importing petroleum products.

It would also be of tremendous help, if the government encouraged local industries to produce electrical appliances and also cut down taxes of electric vehicles. These are long term plans, but just like in the case of giving more than a decade for the hydro-power projects to produce almost thirty thousand megawatts of power, local industries should also be steadily be encouraged to invest in producing electrical appliances for the nation to really benefit in many ways through the excess product of electricity. Just exporting electricity might benefit the country monetarily, but encouraging the use of power by locals would make the economy of the nation more robust.

In the same manner, long term plans for the development of tourism, which provides employment to thousands of Nepalis and also agriculture which benefits individuals with small investment also, will go a long way in further bolstering the presently sagging economy. The government must seriously dwell on these issues and direct the bureaucracy as well as the planners to come up with pragmatic plans and also easy regulations so that more people are encouraged to work in these areas.

Investment environment 

There have been efforts in the past as well to facilitate the investment environment and also encourage direct foreign investment. In this regard, the report that Nepal would not only be producing much more electricity than it requires and thus it will be exporting the same to India, Bangladesh and China, should definitely add to the attraction for local and foreign investment in this sector. However, like mentioned above, the government must strictly monitor the situation and also ensure that there is an investment friendly environment in the country.

Therefore, it is encouraging that the government is emphasising expanding the hydro-power sector, where quick returns cannot be expected, as just the building of one huge project could take several years. With the pragmatic policies of the government and the Nepal Electricity Authority, the people are already encouraged very much. In this way, the hydro-power sector could prove to be a boon for the economic development and wellbeing of the nation and contribute immensely to bolster the economy about which only pessimistic forecasts are being made now.

(The author is former chief editor of this daily.)