[🇧🇩] Nepal---A bosom Friend of Bangladesh

Bangladesh, Nepal discuss cooperation in trade, commerce, hydropower sectors
UNB
Published :
Sep 30, 2024 00:10
Updated :
Sep 30, 2024 00:10



Bangladesh and Nepal have discussed cooperation in different areas including trade, commerce, hydropower and people-to-people level collaboration in particular in the area of education.

The two sides agreed to work together to address challenges as both the countries are slated to graduate to developing country status.

Ambassador of Nepal to Bangladesh Ghanshyam Bhandari met Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin on Sunday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and discussed the issues.

The Ambassador congratulated the Foreign Secretary on assuming this new responsibility.

Both the Foreign Secretary and the Ambassador expressed satisfaction at the meeting held in New York between thr Chief Adviser of Bangladesh and the Prime Minister of Nepal on the sidelines of the UNGA, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Ambassador of Nepal mentioned about the excellent bilateral relations between Nepal and Bangladesh and underscored the importance of enhanced economic engagement between the two countries.

Both sides underscored the need to work closely at SAARC, BIMSTEC and other regional and multilateral fora.​

Bangladesh delegation in Nepal to sign contract to import 40 MW electricity
UNB
Published :
Sep 30, 2024 21:45
Updated :
Sep 30, 2024 21:45



A Bangladesh delegation today (Monday) went to Nepal to sign a contract to import 40 MW of electricity from the Himalayan nation.

Senior Secretary of the Power Division Habibur Rahman will be leading the 8-member delegation which they are expected to sign the contract on October 4.
Sources at the Power Division said that there will be a tripartite agreement between Bangladesh, Nepal and India as the electricity will be imported through the Indian territories.

Earlier, Bangladesh’s Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) approved a proposal of the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to import bulk electricity from Nepal.

As per the proposal, the tariff for electricity was set at 6.40 US cents per kilowatt hour (energy price at Muzaffarpur Substation, India) plus 0.0595 Indian Rupee per kilowatt hour for Indian Contractor’s trading margin and also transmission charge to be fixed by the Indian Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).

Calculating such tariff structure, a top official of the BPDB said that under the proposed deal, each unit of electricity from Nepal will cost Tk 8.50.

Officials of the BPDB also mentioned that the tariff would be much lower if Bangladesh had been able to import electricity from Nepal directly.

But instead of that direct import, Bangladesh will now have to import the electricity through an Indian trading firm NVVN and also through the Indian grid.

“There is only a 26-km transmission line that goes through Indian Territory. If Bangladesh was allowed to build this 26-km transmission line at our own cost, the tariff of Nepali electricity would be below Tk 7,” he told UNB.

Bangladesh has been negotiating with Nepal for a long time to import electricity. But it took a long time to reach an understanding between Dhaka, Kathmandu and New Delhi to sign the proposed contract.

Now the three parties—BPDB from Bangladesh, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) from Nepal and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) from India will sign the tripartite agreement in this regard.

Sources said Bangladesh had to accept all Indian conditions to import electricity from the Himalayan nation. The Indian firm NVVN was involved as per the Indian condition.

The previous Awami League government had said that if Bangladesh signs a deal with Nepal to import 40 MW of electricity, it will create an opportunity to export electricity from Bangladesh as well during the winter season when power demand remains lower in Bangladesh.

this time Bangladesh will only sign a contract to import 40 MW power from Nepal, not to export power to Nepal,” said another BPDB official.

Sources said the decision to start the import of 40 MW of power from Nepal was finalised in a two-day meeting of the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) and Joint Working Committee (JWC) on Bangladesh-Nepal power and energy sector cooperation on May 14-15 in 2023 at Patuakhali in Bangladesh.

Ahead of the meeting, Nepalese Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud visited Dhaka and held a meeting with Bangladeshi public and private sector officials where he urged them to invest in the hydropower sector in the Himalayan nation, holding about 60,000 MW of clean energy potential.

In the follow-up, according to a report of the Kathmandu Post, during the Nepalese prime minister’s India visit (May 30-June 1, 2023), India agreed to facilitate Nepal to export 40 MW of electricity to Bangladesh through Indian transmission infrastructure.

Currently, Bangladesh is importing electricity from India through a similar arrangement where the Indian company NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) is selling power to BPDB.

Sources said apart from the 40 MW import plan, Bangladesh eventually wants to import 500 MW of hydroelectricity from Nepal via India through the Indian company GMR. But no progress has been made in recent days in this regard.​

Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers

A man wades through the waters in the affected area of monsoon flooding in Roshi village of Nepal's Kavre district on September 30, 2024. Nepal is reeling from its worst flooding in decades after ferocious monsoon rains swelled rivers and inundated entire neighbourhoods in the capital Kathmandu, killing at least 232 people. Photo: AFP

Mingma Rita Sherpa was not home when the muddy torrent roared into his village in Nepal without warning, but when he returned, he did not recognise his once beautiful settlement.

It took just moments for freezing floodwaters to engulf Thame in the foothills of Mount Everest, a disaster that climate change scientists say is an ominous sign of things to come in the Himalayan nation.

"There is no trace of our house... nothing is left," Sherpa said. "It took everything we owned."

Nepal is reeling from its worst flooding in decades after ferocious monsoon rains swelled rivers and inundated entire neighbourhoods in the capital Kathmandu, killing at least 236 people.

Last weekend's disaster was the latest of several disastrous floods to hit the country this year.

Thame was submerged in August by a glacial lake that burst high in the mountains above the small village, famous for its mountaineering residents.

It was once home to Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first person to climb the world's highest mountain Everest, along with New Zealander Edmund Hillary.

"We are afraid to return, there are still lakes above," Sherpa said.

"The fertile land is gone. It is hard to see a future there," he added, speaking from the capital Kathmandu, where he has moved.

A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is the sudden release of water collected in former glacier beds.

These lakes are formed by the retreat of glaciers, with the warmer temperatures of human-caused climate change turbocharging the melting of the icy reservoirs.

Glacial lakes are often unstable because they are dammed by ice or loose debris.

'Rebuild or relocate'

Thame was a popular stop during the trekking season, perched at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,470 feet) beneath soaring snow-capped peaks.

But in August, during the monsoon rains, the village was largely empty.

No one was killed, but the flood destroyed half of the village's 54 homes, a clinic and a hostel. It also wiped out a school started by Hillary.

Sherpa, like many in the village, ran a lodge for foreign trekkers. He also worked as a technician at a hydropower plant, a key source of electricity in the region. That too was damaged.

"Some are trying to rebuild, but the land is not stable," he said. "Parts continue to erode."

Thame's residents are scattered, some staying in neighbouring villages, others in Kathmandu.

Local official Mingma Chiri Sherpa said the authorities were surveying the area to assess the risks.

"Our focus right now is to aid the survivors," he said. "We are working to help the residents rebuild or relocate".

'Predict and prepare'

Experts say that the flood in Thame was part of a frightening pattern. Glaciers are receding at an alarming rate.

Hundreds of glacial lakes formed from glacial melt have appeared in recent decades.

In 2020, more than 2,000 were mapped across Nepal by experts from the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), with 21 identified as potentially dangerous.

Nepal has drained lakes in the past, and is planning to drain at least four more.

ICIMOD geologist Sudan Bikash Maharjan examined satellite images of the Thame flood, concluding it was a glacial lake outburst.

"We need to strengthen our monitoring... so that we can, at least to some extent, predict and prepare," he said.

"The risks are there... so our mountain communities must be made aware so they can be prepared".

Scientists warn of a two-stage impact.

Initially, melting glaciers trigger destructive floods. Eventually, the glaciers will dry up, bringing even greater threats.

Glaciers in the wider Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges provide crucial water for around 240 million people in the mountainous regions.

Another 1.65 billion people depend on them in the South Asian and Southeast Asian river valleys below.

'Himalayas have changed'

Former residents of Thame are raising funds, including Kami Rita Sherpa, who climbed Everest for a record 30th time this year.

Kami Rita Sherpa said the locale had long been a source of pride as a "village of mountaineers", but times had changed.

"The place has no future now", he said. "We are living at risk -- not just Thame, other villages downhill also need to be alert."

The veteran mountaineer said his beloved mountains were under threat.

"The Himalayas have changed," he said. "We have now not only seen the impact of climate change, but experienced its dangerous consequences too."​

Fakhrul, Nepalese envoy discuss bilateral ties, Saarc revival
Published :
Oct 28, 2024 13:19
Updated :
Oct 28, 2024 13:19



Nepalese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ghanshyam Bhandari on Monday met BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and discussed bilateral issues and the revival of Saarc to enhance regional cooperation.

The hour-long meeting, which began around 10:30 am, was held at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office in the capital.

BNP Standing Committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, party’s international affairs committee member Shama Obaed, and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Nepali embassy in Dhaka, Lalita Silwal, were present at the meeting, according to a UNB report.

After the meeting, Amir Khosru briefed reporters on the outcomes of the meeting.

"Our relationship with Nepal is long-standing. We discussed various issues related to bilateral interests, regional cooperation and potentials," he said.

Khosru said that their party believes Bangladesh should strengthen its ties with Nepal as a democratic state in South Asia. “We hope to see a reflection of human rights, good governance, and improved bilateral and regional relations in the days ahead."

He said Bangladesh has enjoyed a strong relationship and cooperation with Nepal for a long time. “But we have not fully exploited the potential of the friendly ties as we should have."

Khosru mentioned that they discussed with the Nepalese Ambassador how to utilise Saarc for regional development, people-to-people relations, and enhancing connectivity and economic progress in South Asia.

“We have not been able to take Saarc to the level envisioned by the late President Ziaur Rahman. The Nepalese ambassador also shares the view that the region's potential has not been fully unlocked through SAARC,” he stated.

The BNP leader said they also talked about collaborating to elevate Saarc for better regional cooperation and development.

Khosru said they also discussed the possibility of importing Nepal's affordable hydroelectric power to Bangladesh.​

Bangladesh starts importing electricity from Nepal via India
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Dhaka 17 November, 2024, 00:26



In a landmark development in regional energy cooperation, Bangladesh has begun receiving electricity generated in Nepal through the Indian grid, marking the first-ever trilateral power transaction among the countries.

The milestone was inaugurated through a virtual event, attended by Bangladesh’s power, energy and mineral resources adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, Haryana chief minister and Indian minister for power Manohar Lal Khattar and Nepal’s minister of energy, water resources and irrigation Dipak Khadka.

The initiative, which sees Bangladesh initially receiving up to 40 MW of electricity from Nepal, underscored a new chapter in sub-regional energy connectivity, said a press release on Saturday.

The development follows a tripartite agreement signed on October 3, between the Nepal electricity authority, Bangladesh power development board and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam of India.

Officials highlighted that the transaction would bolster energy security, enhance cooperation, and increase the share of renewable energy in Bangladesh’s power mix.

Bangladesh chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus recently called for the creation of a South Asian electricity grid, enabling seamless power exchange within the region.

The launch of this power supply is considered a critical step toward that goal, fostering stronger economic and energy linkages between South Asian nations.​