"We have submitted a technical proposal to the secretary at MoE for discussion during the talks with India, which will include the cross-border transmission line issue," Yugal Kishor Sah, general manager of Transmission and System Operation, NEA, told myrepublica.com.
Sah informed that the DPR submitted in March 2009 by the Cross Border Transmission Company (CBTC) is currently under review at the NEA committee, which is studying the DPR.
However, the government is yet to fix the date for the talks. It was decided during Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal´s India visit that such a talk will take place within 15 days of his return. The PM returned home on August 23.
With the delay from Nepal´s side, the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS), the Indian infrastructure development company entrusted with construction of a 140-km power transmission line (TL) in the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur corridor, is losing patience. It is not only pressing for the PPA, but also contemplating a complete "pull-out" in case the NEA does not act fast. "We have completed everything from our side. The ball is in NEA´s court," Ananda Kumar Jha, the country representative of IL&FS, said, adding, "We have proposed PPA for 5 to 25 years and the DPR was completed way back in March."
Blaming the government for "unnecessary delay," Jha further said that the settlement of PPA is most crucial and dismissed all allegations labeled against his company in recent days. "We have only talked about project financing and have not sought any guarantee," he added. He said that the NEA stands to gain a lot as there would be a 24% off load after financial closure. He also informed that IL&FS is pressing for a "stakeholders´ meeting" to develop an "action plan" to push the cross-border transmission line agenda ahead.
As per the DPR, the project is set to be completed by December 2011 at a cost of estimated Rs 2.84 billion. The total line identified is 138 km in the Nepali side and 93 km in India.
Jha argued that the Dynamic Stability Study (DSS) was completed in November 2008. He claimed that even the TSA (Transmission Service Agreement) has been completed and forwarded to the NEA.
Calling the DPR only a ´draft,´ the MoE, on its part, has said that the proposal has a lot of "risks" involved for Nepal and blamed IL&FS for "changing its stance often."
"The risk is all on the Nepali side as per their proposal. Moreover, the IL&FS is seeking guarantee for taking the project ahead," a ministry official told myrepublica.com on condition of anonymity. The official, however, refused to divulge the details of the proposal and only said the proposal would be discussed with the high-level team.
"A political consensus is important as major political parties have differences over almost all issues in the hydropower sector and involving negotiations with India," the source added.
Rush for capacity booking
Meanwhile, the NEA has also said that many companies including Indian companies like Bhilwara Energy and Sutlej and the Norwegian SN Power are increasingly seeking capacity booking in this particular transmission route, which can carry up to 1600 MW.
"Yes they have shown interest, but since there is no written commitment, the process has not moved ahead," Sah said.
Bhilwara is developing Likhu and Balephi projects, while Sutlej is engaged in Arun III and SN Power in Tamakoshi III.
The companies have indeed not officially made known their interest to book the lines. Asked to comment, Dr Sanjeev Shah, country representative of SN Power and president of the Independent Power Producers´ Association of Nepal (IPPAN), said that they have not shown any interest in booking the lines. "We rather want to develop this particular transmission line by ourselves," Dr Shah said.
akanshya@myrepublica.com
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