The Nepali and Indian officials attending the 11th meeting of the Joint Steering Committee on Power Sector Cooperation reviewed issues, such as power trade, implementation on hydropower projects, transmission line and cooperation between Nepal and India on bilateral energy sector.
The meeting convened in Chitwan last Saturday under the co-chairmanship of Secretary at Ministry of Energy of India, Pankaj Agrawal, and Secretary at Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation of Nepal, Gopal Prasad Sigdel, discussed progress made in various bilateral committees, including Joint Technical Team (JTT), according to the Indian Embassy in Nepal.
The meeting convened in the wake of recently inked long-term power trade agreement between India and Nepal.
Earlier, the 11th Joint Task Force's meeting on energy sector cooperation between Nepal and India was held in Nepal, said the Indian Embassy.
Both meetings had approved the format of the cross-country energy trade through 132 KV and lower transmission lines while the Indian External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, and Nepal's Minister for Foreign Affairs, NP Sauda, on January 4, jointly inaugurated three new cross-country transmission lines of 132 KV capacities.
Both the ministers inaugurated Raxaul-Parwanipur 132-KV transmission line, Kushaha-Kataiya 132-KV transmission line, Naya Nautanwa-Nautanwa-Mainahiya 132-KV transmission line.
This transmission line, which will add up 200 megawatt of transmission capacity, would bring total transmission capacity between India and Nepal to 1,400 megawatt.
The recently held meeting agreed to summon the first meeting of the Joint Water Development Committee after achieving progress in the India-Nepal Joint Approach Paper issued during Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's official visit to India in April last year.
