Nepal today sought help from India and China for developing its hydropower sector to overcome its power crisis.
Inaugurating the two-day power summit, president Ram Baran Yadav said "there was need for Nepal, India and China to work together in the area of hydropower development that would lead to the prosperity of the entire region".
"Nepal needs to focus on hydropower development in order to get rid of its dependency on fossil fuel and biomass for energy requirements," Yadav said.
Charge de' Affairs of Indian Embassy Jai Deep Mazumdar said that India is ready to provide any type of assistance in developing Nepal's hydropower.
He said that Nepal needs to harness its vast hydro potential to fulfil its own energy requirements, if not for export purposes.
Nepal is rich in water resources with the potential to generate 83,000 MW of hydro-power. It currently generates 674 MW of hydro-power from the total installed capacity of 705 MW. But the country is currently producing just 670 MW of electricity and facing hours of black out every day.
Finance Minister Shanker Koirala said that Nepal government is preparing ground to generate 5,000 MW of hydropower in the next five years.
He also called foreign investors to invest in mega hydropower projects in the country.
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai said that Nepal's economic growth will speed up with the cooperation in hydropower with China.
Poverty and malnutrition are the two common problems of Nepal and harnessing hydropower can help tackle these problems, president Yadav said.
He said it is also essential for strengthening democracy as it helps to maintain peace and stability in the country.
Energy Minister of Nepal Uma Kanta Jha said that Nepal will welcome investments from both private sector and foreign investors mainly in the reservoir based hydropower projects, which are key to meet domestic power requirements.
About 350 participants from Nepal, India, China and Norway are taking part in the summit which is being organised at the joint initiative of Government of Nepal and Power Trading Corporation of India (PTC).
