22 December, Kathmandu: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has directed the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation to work effectively for the development of energy sector, which he termed as ‘vital’ for the country’s economic development.
The PM has directed the Ministry to scrap the license of nonperforming companies that have held the hydropower projects’ license for long.
During a review meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers on Thursday afternoon, the PM said that the narrative of ‘river in bag’ is in vogue for long. “Taking license and holding them for long without developing projects is harmful for the country. We don’t need to be flexible here. We should scrap the license of such projects by developing certain criteria,” the PM directed.
The PM was speaking at the review meeting of the Energy Ministry and Communications Ministry.
Likewise, the PM said that the tax system should be systematized by cutting the power supply of those failing to pay the power tariffs and added that there should be no compromise against those.
PM Prachanda asked to get the power tariffs by starting from the large power consumers.
Similarly, the PM also directed the officials to work for the lasting management of the irrigation facilities by linking the river system. “Irrigation system is deeply linked to the agriculture. Let’s do homework for increasing productivity of agriculture,” PM Dahal cautioned.
On the occasion, the PM has asked the officials to mend their working style reminding the officials that the current government is entering in its second year. “I am mending my working style,” the PM said.
During the review meeting, the PM directed the Communications Ministry to think to safeguard the country’s media industry and simplify the advertisement policy.
In the meeting, Minister for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation, Shakti Basnet, admitted the plight that Nepal has to import electricity in winter though its exports power during summer season. He also shared problems relating to power consumption and export, seeking cooperation for it.
Similarly, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, shared that homework was on to foster quality and credibility of State-run media. Technology-friendly workforce is imperative, she said, adding Ncell had furnished information on share sales on Wednesday and study on it is underway.
Chief Secretary Baikuntha Aryal directed the officials at energy ministry to work seriously for implementing the agreement on export of 10,000 MW electricity.
However, Energy Secretary Gopal Prasad Sigdel shared the problems that land acquisition process is full of hassles and even the public procurement system take times, thereby affecting project decisions.
Secretary at Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Krishna Bahadur Raut, said the ministry had given top priority to the formulation of policies relating to communications.
