40 years on, West Seti project still in limbo

A government team recently conducted a field survey of Seti River in Sudurpaschim Province for the proposed Seti Hydropower Project.

The 750MW project has remained on the drawing board for the past 40 years. Most people in and around the proposed project area doubt the plan will ever come to pass. For them, it is just an agenda that politicians bring up whenever elections are close.

Bishnu Chand, a resident of Dhungad village in Baitadi, says Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has not prioritized the power plant even though his home district of Dadeldhura is also part of the project area.

“This is the fifth time Deuba has become prime minister. West Seti Hydropower Project is always in his election agenda, but soon he is elected, the plan goes on the backburner,” he says. “It is the same for other leaders from this region who run for office.”

The proposed project site and its transmission lines span the districts of Bajhang, Baitadi, Doti, Dadeldhura, Kailali and Kanchanpur.

Over the years, three foreign companies–Sogreah of France, Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation of Australia and China Three Gorges International Corporation of China–have conducted preliminary studies and field works, but actual work never started.

Successive governments have taken up the project and failed to deliver.

“The project remains in limbo owing to the uncertainty concerning investment, energy market and potential low returns,” says Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal, spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation.

Five years ago, the Nepali Congress government had announced a plan to develop the project with domestic investment. But the plan was shelved when the communist government came to power.

“The government of KP Sharma Oli seemed uninterested. There was also the issue of finding the market. Our energy market is India but the Indian government considers only the projects it invests in,” says NP Saud, a Nepali Congress leader.

Gokarna Bista, a former energy minister, blames the government for not prioritizing the project.

“The West Seti power development plan became a government priority during my tenure as energy minister. That was 11 years ago and successive governments have failed to develop the project, which is vital for the development of Sudurpaschim Province,” he says.

The government recently roped in the Investment Board Nepal to take the project forward. The 47th board meeting has formed a committee to study the project.

“We will soon come up with a development modality,” says Sushil Bhatta, executive director of the board. “We are also finalizing our survey report to be submitted to the government by March 12.”

Locals say they have heard the plans for West Seti from many prime ministers and ministers and such promises now ring hollow.

“I am 40 now and I’ve been hearing about the West Seti project all my life, but there has been no progress,” says Chand of Dhungad village of Baitadi.