Civil Insight: A Technical Magazine Volume 3 | Page 79

Civil Insight (2019) An interview with Er. Kumar Pandey
some revisions? What are the pros and cons of outsourcing
contractors from other countries?
Generally, policies need to be reviewed regularly.
We live in a very dynamic world, and the
situations keep on changing. The same applies to
the BOOT policy in hydropower. Investments in
hydropower sectors must be acknowledged.
There will be additional investments only if a fair
return is guaranteed. Having a large number of
rivers does not assure investments. People will
only invest if they can get a return, which is
proportionate to the risks, and hydropower is a
very risky business! Hence, the BOOT policy,
which has been implemented for almost 30
years, needs to look at the issues from the
investor's point of view, based on our almost
three decades of practice. Further, changes
made need to be adapted to attract future
investments.
Q) Recently Nepal hosted ‘Power Summit 2019.’
How will such gatherings contribute to fostering
hydropower developments in the country?
We are now in an era where the regional trade of
electricity is looking very viable. Nepal has a lot
to gain from it. Therefore, the Power Summit
2019, which I had a privilege to coordinate,
attempted to bring in the regional players from
India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal to
continue the dialogue. We must understand that
dialogues have many modalities. The
governments initiate formal dialogues, whereas
the non-governmental sector can assist the
government efforts by creating a platform for
continuing the issue-based dialogue at forums
and symposiums. To that end, I believe the
Power Summit 2019 was very successful. We
were able to have focused yet very diverse
discussions on technical, political, administrative,
regulatory and financial issues for regional trade
of electricity. We hope governments will pick up
where we left and carry the agenda forward. We
will, of course, continue the discussion at our
level and assist the government in any way
possible.
Q) How reliable and effective are Nepalese
contractors for undertaking large hydropower
projects in Nepal in the status quo?
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Hydropower is a very complicated industry. We
have some very good civil contractors in Nepal,
but unfortunately, their number is very less.
Contracting is not just being able to do a job,
but it also refers to being financially capable to
complete the job if things don’t go according to
the plan. So, in short, although there are very
skillful and competent contractors in Nepal,
most of them lack the financial strength to
undertake a large hydropower project on their
own. Thus, we need to work to improve their
technical, managerial, and financial aspects.
This can be done in several ways, and we must
pursue those options on a project-by-project
basis.
Of course, it is preferable to use our contractors
to the extent possible. Nonetheless, this is not
always possible for large-scale construction.
There are some positive aspects of engaging
international
contractors.
International
contractors can transfer their skills to us. More
importantly, they also bring in the best practices
of the industry, which we lack in Nepal for the
most part. They introduce to us the systems
they have tried and tested in many places
around the world. These systems for technical
compliance, health, safety, and quality control
are very important to complete the projects on
time, with quality and within the budget. On the
other hand, the downside is, international
contractors are expensive. Thus, we will need to
find a middle ground which best suits our
interests.
Q) What strategies could the government opt
for the sustainable management of energy?
The government needs to introduce favorable
policies for investment, both domestic and
foreign. For example, the government needs to
ease the complications in doing business for all.
The government needs to support projects to
become competitive by providing fiscal
incentives (royalty and tax exemptions),
changing laws that are detrimental to the
sector, and minimizing risks of investors.