NEA gets approval for Rs. 10 billion loan from government

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, July 9: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has received approval from the Ministry of Finance to take a short-term loan of Rs. 10 billion to cover the liabilities currently created in the NEA and manage liquidity as well.

Presenting 100-days achievement on Tuesday since he assumed office, Managing Director of the NEA Hitendra Dev Shakya said the Ministry of Finance has made an approval for the loan of Rs. 10 billion sought by the NEA for its financial management.

He said, "Work is underway to issue a bond of Rs. 20 billion for the expansion of the production, transmission and distribution system. This bond has been approved by the Ministry of Finance."

He said that some work has been taken forward for energy security and reliable energy. 

He said that the work has been taken forward for energy security, reliable electricity supply, financial management, reliable and transparent data and human resource management.

The pre-feasibility study of the Kulekhani Sisneri 100 MW Pump Storage Project has been completed and a license application has been submitted for feasibility, he said. 

He said that the pre-feasibility study of the Hulingtar-Dumkim 494 MW Pump Storage Project has been completed and a license application has been submitted for the feasibility study.

Similarly, initiatives have been taken to support the study and construction of the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), while the licensing process for the Uttarganga Hydropower Project and the Upper Arun Hydropower Project has been progressed.

The dispute regarding dedicated and trunk line electricity tariffs is on the way to resolution after a long period of confusion, he said.

The construction of transmission lines (including capacity expansion) and substations has increased by 104 circuit km and 586.5 MVA respectively, bringing the total transmission system to 6769 circuit km and substations with a capacity of 14349.5 MVA to the date.

Shakya said that a committee has been formed to prepare and implement the maintenance schedule for the effective maintenance of the transmission line and the work has been taken forward. He said that the construction of the Dhungesanghu-Basantapur second circuit under the Koshi Corridor has been completed and charged.

According to the NEA, the work of upgrading the existing Balaju substation has been initiated as part of the Kathmandu Valley electricity supply system improvement.

He said that as per the power export agreement with the Bangladesh government, 40 MW of electricity has been regularly exported to Bangladesh since July 15 by opening LC for the duration of the agreement.

Similarly, he said that an average of 625 megawatts of electricity has been exported to India daily, including an average of 325 megawatts per day under the Medium Term Bilateral Agreement and an average of 300 megawatts per day through the IEX Market.

In order to achieve the target of increasing Nepal's total installed capacity to 28,500 MW by 2035, the process of signing power purchase agreements has been taken forward as per the provisions of the grid connection agreements for a total of 4,966.3 MW (RoR 1858.9 MW and PRoR 3107.4 MW) hydropower projects of various designs with a capacity of more than 10 MW, for which grid connection agreements have been completed as of March 25, 2025.

According to the NEA, a total of 63 projects were selected out of the RFP invited through the Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) for a total of 960 MW solar projects under the Energy Mix programme, and PPA for 170 MW solar projects with eight different companies has been completed.