Nepal, India and Bangladesh have agreed to sign an agreement on July 28 on the export of Nepal’s 40MW of electricity to Bangladesh via India.

Officials from the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and the NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN) of India will sign the agreement at a function in Kathmandu.

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Dipak Khadka of Nepal; Power Minister Manohar Lal of India; and Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Nasrul Hamid of Bangladesh are scheduled to witness the signing ceremony in Kathmandu, NEA Spokesperson Nabinraj Singh said.

“After the signing ceremony in the Capital, joint secretary and secretary level meetings will be held on July 29 and 30, respectively, to expedite the process,” Singh said.

The meetings of the joint-secretary level Nepal-Bangladesh Joint Working Group (JWG) and the secretary level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) will expedite the work as per the agreement.

Nepal and Bangladesh will finalise the deal six years after they reached an understanding on energy cooperation. With this agreement, the NEA will export 40MW hydroelectricity to Bangladesh from June 15 to November 15 every year.

As per the agreement, Nepal is estimated to sell 144,000 MWh (megawatt-hour) electricity in five months at the rate of 6.4 US cents a unit.

Nepal will transmit the energy to India through the 400KV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur cross-border transmission line and before India transmits the equivalent to Bangladesh. The NEA will calculate the quantum of exported energy at the Mazaffarpur point. The NEA estimates an earning of around Rs330 million for the country through the sale.

Nepal needs to use Indian transmission facilities to transmit the electricity as Nepal and Bangladesh aren’t directly linked to each other. Energy trade between the two countries became possible only after India was ready to facilitate the process.

A month ago, a meeting of the ‘Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase’ of Bangladesh had approved a proposal to import 40 MW of electricity from Nepal. The proposal was put forth by the Power Division of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).