BIRATNAGAR, Jan.7: The government is planning to develop hydropower as an industry to increase people’s access to electricity, Minister for Water Resources Dipak Gyanwali said today.

Lack of competition in hydropower generation has forced people to use electricity at high prices, he said at a programme organised today by the Morang Chamber of Commerce. “And we have never thought about producing electricity cheap.

“The present government will devise a policy to create a competitive environment in order to reduce the price of electricity,” said Minister Gyanwali.

Presently, only 18 per cent of the country’s population have access to electricity. He suggested developing small and medium hydropower projects rather than going for large projects just to attract investments at low interests.

Mentioning the Arun III hydro power project more than once, Minister Gyanwali said that it was good that the project was withdrawn, and asked the people of the eastern region not to take it too seriously.
Arun was good but very expensive,” said the Minister, who is also an energy expert. He stressed that we should go for small and cheaper projects.

Gyanwali said that the confusion was created because politicians, who do not know the ABC of hydel projects, tend to speak about it. To drive his point, he said one leader was still accentuating that there was no better option than to bring in the already dead Enron.

The minister also informed that a team of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) is leaving for India on January 11 with the aim of involving Indian investors in Nepal’s hydropower development. He, however, stressed on encouraging domestic investors.
Talking about irrigation, he said that the investment in irrigation has not made substantive results. “Until the farmers themselves are involved in irrigation projects, there will be no results as desired,” he said.