By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : There has been no progress on the 5,600 MW joint power project between India and Nepal despite the Indian power minister asserting that the two countries were engaged in finalising the detailed project report (DPR).
In fact, the joint group of experts (JGE) negotiating the Pancheswor multipurpose project in western Nepal has failed to meet since October 2004.
Although the JGE has so far met 20 times, it is still no closer to reaching an understanding on the first DPR that was sent by Nepal in the 1990s. The first report, drawn up with Canadian assistance, says the project is capable of generating 6,400 MW, a claim that was rejected by the Indian authorities, who wanted the DPR to be reviewed.
A joint project office was set up in Kathmandu in December 1999 for the purpose. Although it completed the technicalities and was closed in 2002, India and Nepal still remain deadlocked on several issues.
Besides the actual quantity of power the project will generate, the two neighbours are also disputing irrigation benefits as well as the site of the re-regulation dam that will have to be built.
As India and Nepal fail to reach an understanding on the project that was to have been given priority, the Pancheswor scheme is also under fire from environmental activists in both the countries, who are opposing the dams to be built.
Two months ago, when a Nepali team went to western Nepal for an environmental impact assessment study, people in Jogbura and Sisne villages stopped it from conducting the survey.
Despite the growing obstructions, India’s Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told parliament last week that both sides were engaged in finalising the DPR.
Although the private sector from India’s Himachal Pradesh state had shown interest in Pancheswor that would encompass Nepal’s Baitadi and Dadeldhura districts, there has been no action on the ground due to the political tension between the two countries.
Earlier, Pancheswor was opposed by the Nepal Maoists, the second largest party in the government, on the ground that it was part of a treaty that gave undue advantages to India. Now, though the party has changed its stance, it still opposes the 1996 Mahakali treaty and wants it scrapped.