Why in news? India’s opposition to the use of Chinese contractors in the projects is cause of concern in India-Nepal power trade

Highlights

• India-Nepal hydro-power trade is set to become a regional game-changer as possibilities of buying power from Nepal and making it available over an electric grid system to consumers in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Why the project is the cause of concern?

• Use of Chinese contractors in the projects is delaying the process
• India’s policy post military stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) over Chinese transgressions called “Procedure for Approval and Facilitating Import/Export (Cross Border) of Electricity”.
• The procedure included clause that prohibited trade with power plants that had ownership from a country that shares “land border” with India but has no bilateral power treaty with India indicating China and Pakistan.

About Upper Tamakoshi Hydroelectric Project (UTKHEP)

• It is largest Run-of-the-river hydroelectric project in Nepal.
• River :Sited on the Tamakoshi River ,a tributary of the Sapt Koshi river (Saptakoshi) near the Nepal–Tibet border.
• Location: Gaurishankar Conservation Area, Dolakha District
• It was a Nepal national priority project.
• The project was called “Nepal’s Three Gorges dam”, given its size and its contribution to making Nepal a power-surplus country in the “wet” or rainy season.