The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation (MoEWRI) has sent a proposal to the governments of Bangladesh and India to sign an agreement to export 40 megawatts of electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh via the Indian transmission line on October 3. The governments of Bangladesh and India are yet to provide their confirmation on the date of signing the agreement.

According to the spokesperson for MoEWRI Chiranjeevi Chataut, if the two neighboring countries respond positively at least two days before the proposed date, the trilateral agreement will be signed on October 3. He mentioned that the agreement will be signed in a special ceremony in Kathmandu.

“The Ministry has proposed to hold a Nepal-Bangladesh bilateral meeting of the Joint Working Group led by a joint secretary from the energy ministry of both nations on October 1,” Joint Secretary Chataut told Republica, “The meeting of the working group is proposed to be followed by a bilateral meeting of the Joint Steering Group whose Nepali delegation will be led by Secretary for Energy Suresh Acharya.”

It has been reported that all procedures related to selling electricity to Bangladesh have been completed, and only the signing of the agreement remains. Previously, it was planned to sign the agreement on July 28, but it was postponed due to the protests in Bangladesh against the quota (reservation) system that reserves jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The protests ended on August 5 after the erstwhile Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country. Shortly after the resignation, the Bangladeshi military seized power. Subsequently, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and economist Muhammad Yunus became the head of the interim government of Bangladesh.

Nepal has moved forward with negotiations after the situation there stabilized. Additionally, the interim government in Bangladesh has already decided to purchase 40 megawatts of electricity from Nepal. As a result, the MoEWRI has sent the proposal to sign the agreement on October 3 to the governments of Bangladesh and India.

Since Nepal's electricity will be delivered to Bangladesh via the Indian transmission line, the agreement for exporting the electricity will include India as well. The agreement will be signed by the executive heads of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), and India's NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) on behalf of their respective countries.

After the agreement, the NEA will export electricity produced from the 25 megawatt Trishuli and 22 megawatt Chilime hydropower projects to Bangladesh. If the agreement is finalized, the NEA will sell 40 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh for five years, from June 15 to November 15. The NEA will receive 6.40 US cents or Rs 7.32 per unit for the electricity sold to Bangladesh while the Bangladesh government will pay a gross rate of Rs 8.17 per unit imported including the transmission charges paid to the government of India. According to spokesperson Chataut, the rate for the export is unlikely to be changed since all three parties had previously reached an agreement on it.

The price of electricity exported to Bangladesh through the first inter-country Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 kV transmission line between Nepal and India will be calculated based on the meter located at the Muzaffarpur point in India. The authority will bear the technical losses of the transmission line from Dhalkebar to Muzaffarpur. From Muzaffarpur, the electricity will travel through India's transmission line to Baharampur, and then via the Bheramara 400 kV transmission line to reach Bangladesh.