A tripartite discussion on cross-border hydropower trade needs to start now as Nepal's power export potential is growing fast with the scope of selling it to Bangladesh as well, said Asian Development Bank country director for Nepal Mukhtor Khamudkhanov.
Mr Khamudkhanov said the Manila-based lending agency is supporting three countries in setting up cross-border transmission lines in the context of regional cooperation.
"Power export opportunity by Nepal would be growing very fast. Setting up of hydropower plants would create a scope of exporting power to Bangladesh too," the country director said while talking to the FE during a south Asia media trip.
ADB organised the media trip for capacity building on disaster management and promotion of regional tourism.
Mr Khamudkhanov said most of the hydropower plants in Nepal are located near Indian border and ADB and other development partners have already invested in setting up cross-border transmission lines under regional cooperation.
"That is why, a tripartite meeting between India, Nepal and Bangladesh is necessary," he said, adding that power export to Bangladesh is dependent on intergovernmental dialogue and speedy development of transmission lines.
He also said ADB is financing the backbone transmission line of Nepal along with other development partners and some other cross-border transmission line projects are in the pipeline.
The joint steering committee on India-Nepal cooperation in its seventh meeting in October also agreed to hold tripartite meeting in three months to fix transmission modalities and commercial terms for the use of Indian grid for getting power by Bangladesh.
Nepal has the potential to generate 40,000 megawatt of hydropower due to its geographical location.
Bangladesh now imports 100mw power from India but started negotiations with Bhutan and Myanmar to bring in more due to its growing demand for power in line with the economic growth stated highest among south Asian countries.
The ADB country director said there is a progress in discussion on power trade.
The FE correspondent also talked with the ADB Nepal mission chief on one of the ADB's important objectives to work on regional connectivity including Bangladesh Bhutan, India and Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement and scope of using ports in Bangladesh by Nepal.
ADB focuses more on expanding regional cooperation and will be happy to work more on it, he said, adding that the government-level discussion must continue to be beneficiary.
Under South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) and South Asia Tourism Infrastructure Development (SATID) projects, the ADB is assisting south Asian countries including Bangladesh, India and Nepal.
In Nepal, he said, upgrading of east-west highway and Gautam Buddha Airport are going on under SASEC and SATID projects.
Regarding the use of ports in Bangladesh by the landlocked Himalayan country, Mr Khamudkhanov said all these issues are highly dependent on discussions at tripartite level.
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