Ahead of Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's upcoming visit to India, Kathmandu has finalised a comprehensive wish list it wants New Delhi to fulfil. Projects related to infrastructure and hydel development and power transmission top Mr Oli's agenda for the six-day visit commencing February 19, officials in Kathmandu said. The wish list for Mr Oli's visit -- his first foreign tour since assuming office in October last -- includes finalisation of two hydro-power projects of a total 750 MW capacity that have been on the table for quite some time now. The two projects together would cost about $1 billion.
Nepal is estimated to have the potential to generate 42,000 MW of hydropower but today produces 800 MW -- far less than the domestic demand of 1,400 MW. The two power projects were among agenda-points that Nepal's Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel had proposed to his Indian counterpart Arun Jaitley and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during a visit to New Delhi earlier this month.
