India has agreed to purchase 10,000 megawatts of electricity from Nepal in the next 10 years. An agreement to this regard was signed on Thursday during the ongoing India visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to India. As per the agreement, the southern neighbor will purchase the power generated from various projects including the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project.

PM Dahal shared information about this at a joint press meet held in New Delhi. Besides, the bodies concerned have been directed to reach a consensus over the detailed project report regarding the Pancheshwar Multi-Purpose Hydroelectricity Project. With this, it is expected that the project which has remained stalled for long will finally gain momentum.

Phukot Karnali to be developed on joint-venture with India

Moreover, the state owned Vidyut Utpadan Company Limited (VUCL) of Nepal and India's NHPC Limited have agreed to undertake the Phukot Karnali Hydro Electric Project on a joint-venture basis.

An agreement to this regard was signed and exchanged between the two countries. VUCL Managing Director Surya Prasad Rijal and NHPC representatives signed the bilateral agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

The Indian side shall have 51 percent share and Nepal shall have 49 percent share on the project.

The capacity of the project is 426 megawatts and it is a run-of-river based in Kalikot district in the Karnali Province. The implementation of the project is estimated to cost around Rs 61.86 billion.

Initially, it was planned to undertake the project with sole domestic investment of Nepal but owing to the challenges for resource management, the government later decided to develop it in a joint venture with India, said Rijal.