RSP submits plan to PM for Energy Development Decade

Member of the House of Representatives and central head of the Energy and Water Resources Department of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, Er Shreeram Neupane, has submitted a 12-point policy and implementation proposal to Prime Minister Balendra Shah for executing the “Energy Development Decade.”

In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, he proposed declaring an “Energy Development Decade” with targets of generating 15,000 MW of electricity within the next five years and 30,000 MW within a decade. To achieve this goal, he mentioned that hydropower development, transmission, and distribution infrastructure must be advanced at a war-footing level, and all structural and policy-related obstacles must be removed without delay.

The proposal also suggests that the complex legal procedures related to land, forests, and the environment that hinder energy sector development should either be amended or suspended, and that all approval processes should be streamlined and managed in an integrated manner under the Ministry of Energy. The proposal also demands the introduce ‘single window’ to end the existing procedure where hydropower developers must go through so many ministries and so many departments.

The government’s responsibility for security to ensure the timely completion of significant hydropower projects, advocating for effective mechanisms to manage obstructions and insecurity in these areas is also emphasized in the proposal. Furthermore, it proposes a new Energy and Water Resources Policy to enhance private sector participation in energy generation, transmission, and distribution while promoting energy trade. It highlighted the importance of linking hydropower with sectors such as drinking water, irrigation, tourism, and agriculture.

To attract investors, it suggests reforming the 35-year generation license system to a 50-year system to promote stability. The proposal also advocated for a national campaign to expand transmission and distribution infrastructure and for the government to provide land for industries to boost domestic electricity consumption. The document also calls for special incentives and investment-friendly policies to draw electricity-based industries to Nepal.

To increase household electricity use, he recommended improving the distribution system and restructuring tariffs. Setting a goal of 1,500 kWh per capita annual electricity consumption by 2035, he stressed the need for strengthened energy diplomacy with India and

 Bangladesh and the expansion of cross-border transmission infrastructure to position Nepal as a reliable energy supplier in South Asia, stated in the proposal.