Nepal, India Complete Power Deal Signing

Nepal and India completed the signing of Power Trade Agreement (PTA) on Tuesday, which is believed to create conducive environment for the foreign investment in power production in Nepal.
The PTA was jointly signed by Rajendra Kishore Kshatri, Secretary at Nepal's Ministry of Energy (MoE) and Pradeep Kumar Sinha, Power Secretary of India in Kathmandu.
The PTA, initially effective for 25 years, is an umbrella agreement that will pave way for trading electricity between the two countries, opening door for selling and purchasing power whenever necessary.
With this agreement, Nepal will officially be energy exporter to India during the wet season and buy energy from the Southern neighbor during dry.
The agreement includes power trading, grid connectivity and cross-border transmission, which has fallen under controversy of power monopoly to capture the hydro resources of Nepal before Indian PM Modi's visit to Nepal.
"The question about power monopoly may not be so relevant regarding PTA. However, obtaining license of any individual power project and not developing the project could have adverse effect," said Keshab Dhoj Adhikari, spokesperson for the MoE.
Although the PTA has been signed with India, there is an urgent to sign separate agreement on individual projects. "We need to sign a separate Power Development Agreement (PDA), which is dealt by Investment Board of Nepal, for developing each agreement," Adhikari explained.
"This will also help provide access to domestic and international sectors for hydropower development in Nepal and seek market in the south," he added.
Following the agreement signing, Nepal and India also formed a secretary-level joint steering committee and joint secretary-level joint working group. (Cihan/Xinhua)