Monday, March 31, 2014

900 MW RoR Upper Karnali Hydro Power Project & GMR

Dear all

I would like to assure all my well wishers that it is not that I will shed my own blood and give up my life right away. It will be the last recourse to stop hydrocrats (politicos, bureaucrats, policy/decision makers, commission agents of so called foreign investors) from ruining the world's most attractive hydropower site with most potential and highly cost effective which also is able to provide water and food - most essential things for human life, to serve Indian interest.

It is with heavy heart that I have to inform you all that Supreme Court too has thrown out the case that I was pleading. However, another case has been filed in Supreme Court by the local people but I am not too hopeful of the people winning the case as there are already 2 precedents (West Seti and Upper Karnali itself) in which the court delivered verdict against the national interest of Nepal. However, there is still one silver lining - we succeeded to persuade ADB which was going to finance SMEC's West Seti project to withdraw their investment which paved path for cancellation of license with SMEC for export and new MoU with Chinese company was signed under which it will be built as a multipurpose project for Nepal, both peak energy and augmented flow of water in dry season - not India.

Prof. Dr Mohan Lohani has said "Let us wait how Hon'ble Ram Saran responds to your letter." But I am not too hopeful of Ram Sharan jee understanding what the likes of me are saying. Because even now he is going about saying that present load shedding is due to cancellation of Arun III, 201 MW. I have written several articles and papers on the subject (other colleagues too have done so) and it is clear that due to cancellation of 201 MW Arun III, we now have 346 MW (KGA 144 MW, MM 70 MW, Khimit 60 MW, Bhote Koshi 36 MW, Chilime 22 MW and Modi 14 MW) which were mutually exclusive with Arun III. It is surprising that he doesn't remember the terms that were agreed with the World Bank with his own involvement - like Nepal would not have been allowed to build any other project exceeding 10 MW if Arun III was built).

I would like to end this email with a request to all my well wishers - if things go out of hand and I actually have to sacrifice my life at the altar of this proejct (which I will do at the proejct site), I wish to have presence of all of you there.

With best regards,


Sincerely,

Ratna Sansar Shrestha, FCA
Senior Water Resource Analyst
www.RatnaSansar.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Bihari Krishna Shrestha [mailto:biharishrestha@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2014 21:04
To: Ratna Sansar Shrestha
Cc: Dipak Gyawali; Gurubar Singh Thapa; Dwarika Nath Dhungel; Mohan Lohani; Madhukar SJB Rana; Madan Dahal; Christopher Butler; Matthäus Rest; Radhesh Pant; Ram Sharan Mahat
Subject: Re: 900 MW Upper Karnali Hydro Power Project & GMR

Sorry something happened to my computer and the message got sent prematurely.

I was writing about the case in the Supreme Court against the government and the GMR concerning this project. What happened to it? I think, we should file an urgent PIL against the government and obtain a stay order, leading to the redesing of the project along the lines suggested by you.

Warm regards
Bihari

900 MW RoR Upper Karnali Hydro Power Project & GMR

Dipak jee

I am not planning to procrastinate death by going on so called आमरण अनशन

Rather I am going to implement following saying of Gopal Yonjan:

देशले रगत मागे, मलाई बली चढाउ ।

If GoN and GMR go ahead with RoR UKP, the foundation of that project's cement mortar will be mixed in my blood not water.

With best regards

Sincerely
Ratna Sansar Shrestha

sent from iPad

On Mar 31, 2014, at 17:45, "Dipak Gyawali" wrote:

Our moral duty to stop RSS from having to do his “aamaran ansan”. My contribution on this to be in coming Friday’s SPOTLIGHT, possibly uploaded to the web next Monday.
DG

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Present government to lay foundation of Upper Karnali project with my blood.

Dr Ram Sharan Mahat
Finance Minister, GoN

Ram Sharan jee

You are going to have my blood on your hands.

Karobar Daily has reported on Monday, 10th March that “Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat has also stated that it (PDA) will be signed within a month” for Upper Karnali project with GMR Energy Ltd. In the meantime I have formally announced in an interaction program on Friday, 28th March “that Upper Karnali project in present form, in Indian national interest, will only be built over my dead body” and “I did commit to sacrifice my life at project site if they commence to build this project in detriment Nepal's national interest.” Therefore, there will be my blood on your hands too if this project is built against Nepal’s national interest.

The site for this project is world’s most attractive site and the only other comparable site is, reportedly, in Columbia. Himalayan Power Consultants, with funding from the World Bank, have, after conducting a study for NEA, recommended that the site should be developed as a reservoir project with installed capacity of 4,180 MW which will enable Nepal to benefit from multidimensional uses of water inter alia ranging from water drinking and sanitation, lean season augmented flow of water for irrigation to increase cropping intensity by more than 3 times compared to present practice of less than 1.5 times, to navigation besides generating peak energy – most valuable form of energy.

Under present format, GMR is going to develop it as a run-of-the river project with 900 MW as installed capacity, that too for export when Nepal is languishing for lack of power not just for lighting and entertainment but power for industrialization and to displace fossil fuel consumption by transportation (which is causing huge balance of trade/payment deficit) by electrifying transportation. You might point out that GMR will give Nepal 12% free energy, equivalent to 108 MW. You may not be aware that it will generate only 36 MW in the dry season (will be equivalent to a drop in an ocean) – the time when Nepal suffers from severe energy crisis, severity of which will but increase with the increase in population and, hence, demand.

It is for you and your colleagues in present government to decide whether the foundation of this project will be laid with my blood.

Ratna Sansar Shrestha