Govt plans to attract cooperative investment in hydropower sector

Government has promised to open all doors to attract cooperative investment in the energy sector. The country has huge potential in hydropower sector and cooperative investment will be encouraged in the coming years, said secretary at Ministry of Energy Bishwaprasad Pandit. The government will formulate policies to attract cooperative sector investment in hydropower, he said, adding that cooperative should invest in the sector to fulfill the energy need of the country. “Bringing cooperative sector investment in hydropower could end hours long loadshedding the country is facing.” Pandit urged cooperatives to build small and medium scale hydropower projects in the country. The government is ready to bring policy framework to support cooperative investment in hydropower projects, transmission lines and distribution, he assured. However, the cooperative sector’s investment in energy sector is low. “Cooperatives have been hunting for profits in short run, so they have been ignoring the hydropower sector,” said registrar at Department of Cooperatives Kedar Neupane. According to him, the cooperative sector can invest around Rs 100 billion. He urged Ministry of Energy to facilitate cooperative sector to bring their investment in hydropower projects development. Cooperatives are positive to invest in the sector, therefore, it is the right time to encourage them,” he said. A cooperative sector hydropower company — People’s Hydro — has been planning to build a medium scale hydropower plant in Dolkha district. “But the government policy is not clear regarding cooperative sector investment,” said president of the company Krishna Acharya. He urged the government to attract remittance in hydropower to end increasing loadshedding hours. “A good project and marketing can attract billions of rupees from migrant workers in the sector,” Acharya pointed out. But the government policy has not been able to attract remittance in the development of hydropower projects. Cooperatives have demanded to exclude builtoperate-and-transfer model while constructing hydropower projects. “There should not be 30 years limit for hydropower cooperatives,” said managing director at Everest Energy Cooperatives Tek Prasad Chaulagai. Similarly, the cooperative sector has also demanded to abolish the 15 per cent profit limit for hydropower cooperatives.