Re: Hurdles to power import from Nepal

September 26, 2010

Mr Tek C Pokharel

Kathmandu

Dear Pokhareljee

Thanks a lot for your solidarity.

Your question below has been responded to by the outcry that ensued release of press communiqué on water resource released by UCPNM last week.

I am not even a sympathizer of UCPNM and I don’t believe in any kind of communism. Although I have difference with a number of issues in that release, I am in agreement with most of the points raised by in it. But I find it tragicomic at the way the hullabaloo has been raised by the business community and so called intellectuals of Nepal.  There are following issues which were ignored in raising the hullabaloo:

·         UCPNM hasn’t asked for stoppage of work on the listed hydropower projects “no matter what.” They have merely asked GoN to abide by Nepal’s constitution; in particular Article 156. Does that mean that the people responsible for the outcry don’t want to be bothered by the provisions of Nepal’s constitution? Are they in favor of things taking place in Nepal in contravention of our constitution? As the provision is for ratification of “agreements” entailing sharing of “uses” of our natural resources by the parliament, what GoN has done so far impairs right of the parliament. Does that mean that these people are happy to undermine the authority of our sovereign parliament?

·         UCPNM hasn’t asked for stoppage of work for projects with foreign investment for domestic consumption. Some have gone on to say that due to this move load shedding problem will exacerbate. That is untrue. There will be no impact on Nepal’s electricity crisis as these are export oriented projects. Meaning the load shedding problem will neither be solved even if these projects are built and, hence, the problem will nor be “unsolved” if these projects are not built.

·         They say that this move will deprive Nepal of potential advantages. The question that this attitude raises is: should we in Nepal do things in contravention of our own constitution if benefits were to accrue to us? A rhetorical question that comes to my mind is that girls and women are sold in the flesh market for some benefit and, therefore, should people start selling off their own family members for some benefit? What needs to be remembered is that Nepal gains very little by exporting power. Businessmen have been going about overstating the benefit that will accrue by exporting electricity by a magnitude. I have proved my point time and again. Constitution shouldn’t be breached even if we were to benefit and in this instance the benefit in question is infinitesimal.

This hullabaloo has portrayed a very pathetic picture of our business community and intellectuals (there are exceptions, though!).

With best regards,


Sincerely,

Ratna Sansar Shrestha, fca
Senior Water Resource Analyst

http:www.RatnaSansar.com/

From: T.C Pokharel [mailto:tcp@gohimalaya.travel]
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 11:15
To: T.C Pokharel
Subject: Hurdles to power import from Nepal

Dear friends,

This is an interesting but also eye opening article by Ratna Sansar Shrestha on the mathematics of power export to India where Nepal will always be a big looser. But will his voice be listened or he will just be crying in the wilderness.

Tek C. Pokharel