Large-scale investments in hydropower have renewed the prospect of sustainably addressing energy shortage and triggering economic growth and transformation in Nepal, say parliamentarian Gagan Thapa and Yurendra Basnett, an expert.

In a paper titled ‘Using Hydroelectricity to Power Economic Transformation in Nepal’ published by the Supporting Economic Transformation Programme at the London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the duo outlines that hydropower can accelerate the country’s economic development but only if the sector is well managed with power going to the industrial sector and receipts re-invested. Thapa chairs the parliamentary Committee on Water and Agricultural Resources while Basnett is a former ODI research fellow. Nepal’s transformation has yet to gather pace because of the failure to move labour from low to higher levels of productivity.