KATHMANDU: India’s Foreign Secretary, Harsh Vardhan Shringla says India is working to “promote a sub-regional energy hub” comprising Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar to meet its energy needs.
Speaking at the inauguration of the South Asia Group on Energy at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries in New Delhi Wednesday, Indian Foreign Secretary Shringla said India is taking the lead “to promote a regional approach to meet its energy needs”.
He said, Indian being the largest producer and consumer of energy in the region, it is natural for India to be the epicenter for any energy initiative in the region.
“We have to make energy affordable, accessible and clean,” Shringla said.
He also added that India is promoting easier movement of hydrocarbons across the region.
He also recalled South Asia’s first cross-border petroleum products pipeline from Motihari in India to Nepal’s Amlekhgunj that was remotely inaugurated by Indian and Nepali prime ministers in September 2019.
He added that the pipeline has led to savings of Indian Rs 1 billion for Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).
According to him, India was looking to expand this project to Chitwan, and construct a pipeline connecting Silguri and Nepal’s Jhapa.
India, he said, supplied about 700 MW of power in 2019 through more than 25 transmission interconnections adding that Nepal may also start exporting power in the near future.
He added that the first high capacity cross-border power transmission line, from Dhalkebar in Nepal to Muzaffarpur in India was completed with GoI-assistance and was upgraded to 400 KV capacity in November 2020.
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