[Gyanendra Bahadur Karki was the Minister for Water Resources in the coalition government headed by GP Koirala, formed after the successful peoples' movement. It was during his ministerial tenure that licenses for famous hydel projects such as Arun-III and Upper Karnali were issued to Indian companies through open bidding competition. Similarly, he also played a key role for starting Upper Tamakoshi with the national investment. A central committee member of Nepali Congress Party, Karki, talked to Urja Nepal on various issues related to hydro power and Ministry of Water Resources. The HN has prepared the conceptual translation of his interview in English ]

Excerpts
What is the need to export electricity?
We have immense resources to be exploited. If hydro power is developed, there will be stability, and democracy will enhance. The business deficit will go down. There is a situation to pay dollars to buy Indian currency. I could have implemented Arun-III and Upper Karnali using my authority but I considered the national interest, and invited open competition. We are benefited more from these projects than what the existing laws and policies govern.

What is the situation of power export?
The water resources must be utilized taking into consideration the national interest at maximum. We have promoted projects under the Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT) system. The constructing company must hand over the project to the government after 30 years. From that Nepal will get assets worth billions without any actual investment. Derailing this benefit and objective, there are attempts to misuse the national resources by promoting false information through mass media, giving no justice to the citizens.

What would be the motives of wrong flow of information?
The main reason would be the lack of knowledge on the benefits from the projects. India is the main market for electricity. There is a mentality that India will always deceive us. Like Arabian countries, which are rich from oil export, Nepal will never be deceived by exporting electricity. No angles are there for Nepal to be deceived.

For major goods, we are dependent on India. Such dependence makes us weaker. Our ‘bargaining power’ will be higher when we start exporting electricity from Nepali hydel projects. Let us take an example of oil supply to Nepal. Hydro electricity requires high technologies and investments. It could have been much better if we had developed this ourselves. Due to our present financial status, this is not possible. From this, the concept of exporting electricity has originated. We can definitely displace the dependence on petroleum products tomorrow by developing hydro power. Development of hydro power is a must to take electricity to every house and to increase the production. Power export must be seen as a model to develop hydro power. This applies mostly to larger projects. We are already investing in smaller projects. Tamakoshi is being constructed with the national investment.

Then, why is there opposition for these two projects being licensed to Indian companies?
No democracy will enhance under poverty line. Disguised with patriotism, some elements are campaigning against these projects, sideling the future benefits. As quoted by BP Koirala, we can wake-up those who are in sleep, but can do nothing to those who pretend to be slept. Those who protest must also tell what the project’s benefits are.

What is to be done to develop hydro power benefiting both the nations?
Indian’s dependence on Nepal will certainly go higher with the development of Upper Karnali, West Seti and Arun-III. The concerned party must be alert regarding the issue of getting deceived. The then Parliamentarian Committee for Natural Resources took much time to approve Arun-III and Upper Karnali. The committee even gave directives to the government, showing clues for getting more benefits from these projects. Based on those directives, decisions in the cabinet were made. There was all party participation in the cabinet. We should never allow any pretexts to appear regarding the implementation of these projects. Faster we decide, faster the nation develops. Otherwise, there will be much loss to the nation.

Maoists are opposing  West Seti, why?
West Seti is a project that requires higher investment. Financial arrangement in this project was not achieved during insurgency period. Now the situation is different. The license renewal was approved by the cabinet. Even Maoists were in the cabinet. They did not oppose during the cabinet decision. The Ministry of Finance forwarded the US $40.5 million investment proposal to the cabinet for approval. The Maoists ministers told that they must study the proposal, and was approved only in the next cabinet meeting, after they showed their agreement on the proposal.