KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Nepal risks a major electricity power crisis in the next five years because of a lack of power plants, with consumers to face possible power outages of up to 17 hours a day, officials warned Tuesday.
Nepal Electricity Authority chief Arjun Kumar Karki said it currently produces only half the necessary electricity to satisfy demand. Only one hydroelectric project was due to be completed next year and new projects were more than five years away from completion.
Nepalese consumers at present face eight hours of scheduled daily power cuts and the NEA predicted that by 2013 there could be outages of up to 17 hours a day.
All of Nepal's electricity is produced by hydroelectric plants that harness mountain rivers and reservoirs during the monsoon season and use the water in the dry months to produce electricity.
However, there has been below average rainfall this monsoon season, and many rivers have been frozen during the winter, resulting in less water to fill the reservoirs used to produce electricity.
"The policy makers have failed to predict the power shortage and plan ahead. It is because of their failure we are now going to suffer for the next few years," Karki said.
A decade-long communist insurgency also hampered development work, including the building of new power plants. Though the rebels joined a peace process in 2006 and gave up their armed revolt, political instability has continued.
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