The national industrial production has dropped down to around 20 percent of its total capacity after the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) started 40 hour a week load shedding a few weeks back.

Kush Kumar Joshi (right) addressing the press conference. nepalnews.com/ia

Kush Kumar Joshi (right) addressing the press conference. nepalnews.com/ia
In a press conference organised by the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) Thursday, second vice president Kush Kumar Joshi informed that if the present state of load shedding continues, the economic losses to nation would be unimaginable and over 3.3 million people would be at the risk of losing their jobs.

He accused government of not being serious towards the problems the industrial sector is facing by ignoring the attention drawn by industries repeatedly to address the issue.

The FNCCI official said they were ready to work together with the government to seek alternatives for hydropower so that energy supply will not be the cause of shutting down industrial production.

There are no controversies to say that the state holds the responsibility of supplying energy to promote industrial productivity in the nation, but electricity production in Nepal has been derailed since years due to vested political interests and frequent changes in the government, not forgetting the losses causes by the decade long insurgency.

FNCCI has put forward a proposal of establishing diesel or thermal plants and demand side management to decrease the energy consumption. Joshi claimed energy consumption in Kathmandu city can be decreased by some 20 percent if the government took initiatives. Similarly, the FNCCI has put forward the proposal of introducing energy efficient techniques in the industries. “Implementation of such measures throughout the country can decrease the energy consumption bringing load shedding hours from 7 to 2 hours per day,” he said.

The major industrial sector in the country lies in the central region, along Kathmandu, Hetauda and Birgunj. However, the NEA does not have a national grid transmission line in the area. Eastern and western regions can import power from India during the dry season but the imported power cannot be drawn to these industrial areas due to lack of transmission lines.

Of the total 650 MW electricity produced in the country at present, around 400 MW is consumed by two major cities – Kathmandu and Birgunj. Similarly, the NEA has over 22,500 industrial customers and these customers consume some 47 percent of the total energy available in the country. The revenue generation of the NEA from industrial sector is around Rs 5.87 billion per year.

FNCCI has also drawn attention of the government that businessmen would not be able to pay back the debts of the banks if their industries continue run at a loss caused by the energy crisis.