A high-level meeting between the energy secretaries of Nepal and India last month agreed to build six high-voltage cross-border transmission lines to facilitate the export of up to 18,000MW of electricity by 2035. The government’s recently-approved Energy Development Roadmap and Action Plan envisages exporting 15,000MW to India and Bangladesh within the decade, and generating 28,500MW by 2035. At present Nepal has agreements to export 941MW to India and 40MW to Bangladesh. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/blueprint-for-nepal-india-electricity-trade">Exports to India </a>happen only during <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/monsoon-deluge-in-nepal">the monsoon </a>when there is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/an-energy-windfall-for-nepal">surplus energy</a>, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/more-than-half-of-nepal-s-electricity-imported-from-india">Nepal imports power</a> during the dry season. This month, Nepal is generating only one-third of its installed capacity of 3,400MW because of low river flows.&nbsp; Generation will exceed 4,000MW by year-end, and another 3,906MW of projects are under construction with more projects worth 3,899MW in the pipeline after <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10871">power purchase agreements</a>.&nbsp; That Nepal is now capable of generating and exporting <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-precious-electricity-going-waste">surplus electricity</a> has been seen as a significant development for a country that was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-they-kept-nepal-in-the-dark-ages">plagued by power cuts</a> for up to 18 hours daily until just eight years ago.&nbsp; In the past 20 years, many energy strategies were formed to power growth through exports. As regional countries look for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/right-climate-for-nepal-s-energy-transition">clean energy to meet climate targets</a>, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-first-hydropower-from-a-glacial-lake">Nepal’s hydropower</a> could be in high demand. Electricity exports can also help offset the country’s huge <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/balance-of-power">trade deficit</a> with India. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/balance-of-power">Investment</a>, or the lack of it, stands as the biggest hurdle in achieving Nepal’s ambitious energy export targets. Generating 28,500MW of electricity would cost Nepal $46.5 billion — four times the annual budget. Capital investment could come from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/home-is-where-the-heart-is-yqkvf5vx">overseas Nepalis</a>, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/sacking-of-nea-chief-exposes-cronyism">the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)</a>, the private sector or from<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/business/green-bond-option-for-climate-finance"> ‘green bonds’</a>. But even if investment is forthcoming, there is no guarantee that the energy will find a market at an acceptable price. India has increased its quota every year to allow the NEA to sell 941MW of electricity produced by 28 projects under the competitive market and medium-term power sales agreements. It does not buy power from projects with Chinese involvement, and has a strategic monopsony status.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025032710034_ac849c5d570b132afcdb2e4ba432a423dc40bb80ad9f900e0d1a26eed1a5dbec.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025032710034_ac849c5d570b132afcdb2e4ba432a423dc40bb80ad9f900e0d1a26eed1a5dbec" data-rendition-name="original" width="997" height="784" loading="lazy" alt="Hydrocarbon to hydropower NT"> </figure>  The country exported more electricity than it imported for the first time in 2023/24 fiscal year, selling electricity worth Rs17.06 billion to India. But this is a drop in the bucket in comparison to the country’s total trade deficit. Nepal imported goods worth Rs1.59 trillion, while exports were only Rs152 billion in the same fiscal year. The amount earned from exporting electricity was just 1.2% of Nepal’s trade deficit. While this could increase in future, it will not go up by much. As it stands, Nepal buys electricity from India at almost the same rate as it sells. Indian state-owned companies are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/decentralising-hydro-power">developing hydropower projects</a> with a combined capacity of 8,000MW, mostly on the Arun basin. The agreements give 21.9% of the electricity from these plants for free for 25 years before they revert to Nepal. Hydropower experts have long argued that Nepal should increase domestic consumption for value added manufacturing rather than exporting raw power. This means <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/securing-nepal-s-electric-future?%3D">making electricity affordable and accessible</a> for household appliances, transport and industries. To be sure, proactive government policies on tax rebates for electric vehicles have seen remarkable results. Until January of this fiscal year, Nepal imported 6,256 electric four-wheeled vehicles in comparison to 2,662 petroleum ones. Nearly 70% of all EVs sold were from China. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/blueprint-for-a-net-zero-nepal">Blueprint for a net-zero Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale&nbsp; Continuous <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/ev-year">increase of EV imports </a>will eventually reduce Nepal’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-energy-policy-in-2023-and-beyond">dependence on India for fossil fuel</a>, which currently makes up 18% of all imports and the largest item. Promoting <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/charging-nepal">electrical appliances </a>and manufacturing them in the country would reduce the increasing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-s-cooking-in-nepal-besides-politics">dependency</a> on LPG, which is heavily subsidised. Only 0.5% of Nepali households use<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/people-power/nepal-turns-on-the-electric-switch"> electric stoves</a>, if 5.6 million households were to use induction stoves for three hours every day, the country would use 825MW of electricity, displacing LPG consumption entirely, also reducing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-doubles-its-carbon-footprint">Nepal’s carbon footprint</a>. But all this requires a better transmission and distribution system in the grid so that they reach the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/life-and-livelihood-in-remote-nepal">remotest areas</a> to double <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/power-to-the-people">electricity consumption</a>. Scaling up fast charging stations for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-journey-to-electric-public-transport">battery-powered transportation</a> would meet the growing demand for EVs. Extending tax rebates to also include large electric buses would reduce <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17315">diesel demand</a>, which has also been growing. Nepal also has to look beyond conventional hydropower to solar-powered <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/pump-water-store-energy">pump storage to generate electricity</a>, which would be cheaper and faster to build. Such schemes would also be less destructive to the ecology of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/geopolitics-of-nepal-s-rivers">the country’s rivers</a>. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-climate-crisis-is-a-water-crisis-in-the-himalaya">The climate crisis is a water crisis</a>, and Nepal must plan for a future in which the Himalayan icecap will be further depleted. Rivers are not just a source of energy but ensure equitable <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-needs-to-plan-for-plenty-and-scarcity-of-water">water supply for irrigation</a>, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/aid-rarely-aids-agriculture-in-nepal">agriculture</a>, and household use. &nbsp; Ramesh Kumar

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Hydrocarbon to hydropower

Probably the best thing to happen to Nepal’s economy lately is India’s refusal to buy more electricity. It could eventually force the government to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/challenge-of-the-millennium">expedite transmission infrastructure</a> and increase domestic demand. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is losing billions in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-precious-electricity-going-waste">spilled power </a>this monsoon because it cannot evacuate power. Some private producers have actually stopped generating altogether. Installed hydropower capacity is touching 3,000MW this monsoon, and projects for a further 3,300MW are under construction. But domestic consumption is stuck at 1,700MW. Nepal could export electricity, but India has agreed to buy only 452MW from projects with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/geopolitics-of-nepal-s-rivers">no Chinese involvement</a>. Even if the full quota was exported, Nepal would only earn NPR20 billion, whereas the trade deficit with India is at NPR840 billion and growing. In fact, Nepal imported NPR20 billion worth of power from India last year to cover its dry season deficit.&nbsp; “At the current rate, if we do not put up transmission lines in time, by 2025 we will be losing electricity worth 120 million every day in winter and Rs170 million during the monsoon,” warned Kathmandu University engineering professor Bishal Silwal at at a recent seminar.&nbsp; NEA blames delays in substations and transmission lines on <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/high-tension-in-sindhuli,1297">locals blocking construction</a>. Kathmandu Valley therefore faces frequent power outages due to tripping even there is enough power in the grid. “The problem right now is not of supply but infrastructure,” former NEA head Hitendra Shakya explained at the seminar. “It is a result of poor planning.”&nbsp; There is also lack of coordination between various agencies of government to encourage domestic consumption with tax rebates for industries, battery-powered vehicles and household appliances. An average Nepali consumes 325kWh of electricity, much lower than the global per capita of 3,180kWh. Former energy secretary Dwarika Nath Dhungel, who is the author of a new compendium on the political economy of hydropower, says: “Exporting electricity should be the last thing on our list. We might be generating surplus but we still import power from India during winter, let’s first try to use the surplus to replace that import.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230825050844_432c12cd7043c2c38c9ef9dab2df1d12416c734c0f8dc4e46af5f14a6419e30f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20230825050844_432c12cd7043c2c38c9ef9dab2df1d12416c734c0f8dc4e46af5f14a6419e30f" data-rendition-name="original" width="3000" height="3073" loading="lazy" alt="Page 1"> <figcaption>Photo: BIKRAM RAI/NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption> </figure>  Indeed, while some 95% of Nepal’s population is said to have access to electricity, districts like Bajhang, Dolpa, Bajura, Jumla and Mugu are not yet connected to the grid. Nepal’s wetter eastern half has most of the hydropower generation capacity, while the more arid west does not have enough. Surplus power could also jumpstart Nepal’s struggling industries, the tourism sector and agriculture. This in turn would create jobs so Nepalis are not <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">forced to migrate abroad</a>. “Hydroelectricity should be a crucial element of our national development strategy so we make its maximum use domestically and for employment. Only then should we be exporting power,” says Dhungel. NEA can earn more from selling power domestically. Private industries are paying up to NPR11 per unit whereas the average price of electricity sold to India is just NPR4.33 per unit. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/securing-nepal-s-electric-future">Using electricity</a> to slash Nepal’s petroleum import bill by just 10% would save the country at least NPR30 billion a year, and be a faster way to decrease the trade deficit with India. Improving public health by cutting pollution would be a bonus. Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-india-power-play">balance of power with its two neighbours</a> is also getting skewed with a tilt towards India, as New Delhi leans on politicians here to systematically cancel Chinese investments in hydropower. Experts say India’s real interest is in regulating Nepal’s rivers to ensure future water supply rather than electricity. “Politicians spout non-stop nonsense about how they will make the country rich by exporting electricity when water is our strategic commodity,” says Dhungel. “They are trading our water resources to stay in power by keeping a certain neighbour happy. One has to wonder if Singha Darbar is making decisions or the Delhi Darbar.” Successive governments of K P Oli, Sher Bahadur Deuba and now Pushpa Kamala Dahal have all awarded one hydropower project after another to Indian state companies which are now building projects that will generate a combined total of 4,000MW. More Indian projects are in the pipeline. With the rise of China and India as global players and the new Sino-US cold war, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-geopolitics-of-nepal-s-water-and-electricity">Nepal has become a geo-strategic hotspot</a>. But it is now also a climate hotspot, and shrinking glaciers will affect electricity generation and the hydrology of Himalayan rivers.&nbsp; Dwarika Nath Dhungel sums it up: “We can’t change our neighbours but we can understand their aspirations better so that we have leverage when dealing with them. But first, we have to become stronger by making the best use of our own resources domestically.”

Sonia Awale

Balance of Power

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfdd29c7e80680e0a0c06jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1198" height="1227"/><figcaption>Photo: BIKRAM RAI/ NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVES</figcaption></figure>The most tangible collateral damage of Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/they-fail-we-fall/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">chronic political instability</a> is going to be the effort to streamline Nepal’s electricity grid. Politicians have weaponised the US-supported <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/power-politics-delays-mcc-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) infrastructure grant</a>, and the much-needed project is stuck.An agreement for the $500 million project was signed by the Nepali Congress (NC) Finance Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki in Washington DC four years ago. But since then, it had become a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/knowing-whats-good-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">political football </a>in the great game between prime Minister K P Oli and his nemeses Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal.The first hint that the MCC controversy was carrying over to the new government was that it was not included in the ‘common minimum program’ agreed to between the five coalition partners on 9 August.The Maoists and the Nepal faction have used the MCC so effectively to bludgeon Oli’s government that the rank-and-file are dead against the project. They are convinced it will allow the US military to build missile silos in Nepal aimed at China.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/using-the-delay-in-mcc-to-dissect-it/">Putting the MCC in context</a>, Jeevan R Sharma and David SeddonThe MCC was launched by the US government in 2004 as an innovative way to end poverty in least developed countries. Nepal met the eligibility criteria and was selected as a partner, and planning for the MCC started during the government of Baburam Bhattarai in 2012. Bhattarai is now in the five-party alliance as a part of the JSP.Critics have used ultra-nationalism and populism to portray the MCC as a form of US neo-colonialism and imperialism. The Americans fuelled the fire themselves when a US undersecretary of state admitted in 2019 that the MCC was a part of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy aimed at encircling China.Washington back-pedalled, but the damage was done. There are many who do not need convincing that the MCC in Nepal is America’s geo-strategic response to<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/bri-and-trans-himalayan-connectivity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> China’s Belt-Road Initiative</a>.But because of this political impasse, work on urgently needed electricity transmission lines and highway upgrading has not started. The cost of not having this infrastructure in place will be much more than the $500 million outlay of the project.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/own-goal/">Own Goal</a>, Kunda DixitThe main objective of the MCC is a 315km transmission line between Hetauda-Damauli-Butwal. This power line is critical for the east-west distribution of the 3,000MW of electricity that will be <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decentralising-hydropower/">added to Nepal’s national grid</a> in the next three years, nearly double the current generation capacity. Another 2,500MW worth of projects are awaiting power purchase agreements with the NEA and will depend on the MCC transmission lines being in place.Nepal’s current power need is 1,500MW at peak hours, and despite suppressed demand due to shortage and cost, it is not expected to increase by much in the next three years. Which means Nepal will have a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/generating-electricity-and-cash-for-nepalis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">monsoon surplus</a> that can be exported to India, and for this, the cross-border 400KV transmission line from Butwal to Gorakhpur will be necessary.At present, Nepal imports electricity from India through the Dhalkebar-Muzzafarpur power corridor that has a capacity of handling only 800MW. The MCC line would increase this to 2,600MW, but if the Butwal-Gorakhpur transmission line is not built in the next few years, much of the surplus electricity generated in Nepal is in danger of being wasted, or 'spilled' in technical parlance.Even if the MCC is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-truth-politics-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">never ratified by Parliament because of the political deadlock</a>, Nepal needs to immediately start building these transmission lines by itself. Private power producers in Nepal have signed agreements with NEA on the understanding that the transmission lines will be in place to evacuate the electricity they generate.Because of the nature of the monsoon and Nepal’s east-west territory, there will be surplus electricity in the east while there is a deficit in the west, so the transmission lines are even more critical to balance the national grid.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mcc-row-damages-nepals-credibility/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">This is too serious a subject</a> to be left to politicians, or to geopolitics. The NEA’s new head Kulman Ghising needs to sit down with the MCA’s Khadga Bahadur Bista and resolve this one way or another right away.In the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War and despite sensitivities after the India-China war, King Mahendra went ahead with the Kodari Highway linking Kathmandu to Lhasa. That is the kind of leadership we need now, one that will not be terrified about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/is-china-now-micro-managing-nepal-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">what one or the other neighbour will say</a>, but decide what is in the national interest and just do it.Ramesh KumarRead also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-millennium-challenge/">A millennium challenge</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/why-there-is-no-foreign-investment-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Why there is no foreign investment in Nepal</a> , Nepali Times

Challenge of the millennium

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec219c7e80680e09ad49jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHHETRI</figcaption></figure>Nepal's prolonged political deadlock has not just affected the country’s response to Covid-19, it has also delayed the implementation of an American-aided project to upgrade Nepal’s electricity transmission grid.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/knowing-whats-good-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">controversial</a> Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project is the biggest single bilateral grant for a specific project in Nepal by a foreign country, but <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-millennium-challenge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">has become the focus of an intense power struggle </a>rival parties, and is tangled in regional and global geopolitics.A big part of the $500 million MCC grant is ear-marked for the Kathmandu-Hetauda-Butwal 400KVa transmission line which will eventually evacuate electricity generated from existing and new <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decentralising-hydropower/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hydropower plants</a> on the Budi Gandaki, Trisuli, Kali Gandaki, Marsyangdi, Kosi, and Tamakosi corridors, and link it to Gorakhpur in India. A smaller component of the project will upgrade arterial highways. The Nepal government is putting up another $130 million as a counterpart fund.However, critics in Nepal see the MCC as America’s strategic counter to China’s Belt Road Initiative. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/knowing-whats-good-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">comment by US Under Secretary of State David J Ranz</a> in 2019 that the MCC was indeed a part of the US <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/between-two-oceans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Indo-Pacific Strategy</a>added fuel to the fire.Sandwiched between India and China, Nepal was already in a strategic tight spot, but a recent flare-up in Sino-Indian tension and US-China rivalry have caught Nepal in the crossfire. In addition, opponents of Prime Minister K P Oli have weaponised the MCC and used the project to weaken his position.But Nepal’s energy planners say that even if the MCC is delayed or cancelled, the country will have to find alternatives to build the transmission lines.“We cannot afford this uncertainty we must have a Plan B in place, otherwise we will face a huge problem. There will be all this electricity being generated in the next few years, but no way to take it to consumers,” says Hitendra Dev Shakya, who heads the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). “We have to build the transmission lines with or without American aid.”The reason behind the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-millennium-challenge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">transmission line being prioritised</a> is to send the electricity produced from throughout Nepal, and any future monsoon surplus can then be exported to India and the same lines can be used to import power in winter if required.New projects with a generation capacity of 330MW are under construction on the Bhote Kosi in Rasuwa and Nuwakot. A further 500MW will be generated from other hydropower schemes whose construction was delayed due to the pandemic.New 220KVa transmission lines are ready to bring that electricity to Kathmandu Valley, but they only have the capacity to carry the new load from projects now under construction. But the NEA has already made Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) to buy about 6,000MW of electricity from private operators, and the distribution of that power will depend on the MCC-funded distribution system. The NEA says it urgently needs another transmission link to bring power from plants on the Tama Kosi to Kathmandu and to eastern Nepal via Hetauda.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec259c7e80680e09ad4ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="880" height="840"><a href="https://www.mcc.gov/where-we-work/country/nepal" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The MCC</a> was set up in 2004 by the US Congress during the George W Bush presidency to help developing nations reduce poverty through financial aid. Since then, as Sino-US tensions grew it has taken on a strategic dimension as the two powers compete for global connectivity. The $500 million MCC grant to Nepal was sanctioned in 2017 to improve Nepal’s energy and road infrastructure.Nepal was suffering 18 hours of power cuts a day when the agreement was signed, and after much deliberation, Nepal’s planners, politicians and bureaucrats decided that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-millennium-challenge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">transmission lines were the most urgently needed</a> since powerplants were already under construction. The generated electricity need to be taken to load centres, this would increase the renewable component of Nepal’s energy mix by replacing imported petroleum, and finally, to export any surplus to India.Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-truth-politics-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Millennium Challenge Authority Nepal (MCA-Nepal)</a> has been set up and the office has already finalised the design of the 315km transmission line of 400KVa capacity with three new sub-stations. But the delay in Parliament’s ratification of the project means it cannot issue tender bids, and this will put 2,600MW of electricity at risk of being wasted in eh coming two years.<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17959" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Khadga Bahadur Bista</a>, the CEO of MCA-Nepal estimates about it takes up to five months to select a contractor even if the project is ratified by Parliament, and after that, it will take another nine months to start construction.“We are all set to kick start this project and are ready to call for international tender bids, but due to it still pending in the Parliament we have not been able to make progress,” Bista told Nepali Times. Just Do ItThe NEA says that Nepal is now generating 1,400MW of electricity, and this is set to more than triple in the next three years to 5,000MW, with the largest hydropower project so far in Nepal, the 456MW Upper Tama Kosi coming on stream in July, if it is not delayed again by the lockdown.Other hydroelectricity projects totalling 2,500MW are planned are in the financial negotiations stage, they are set to come into operation by 2026.But the more urgent need is power transmission to accommodate the new projects in the next three years as Nepal struggles to keep up with demand. The current peak demand is 1,150MW, which drops to 700MW at night. Generation capacity also fluctuates during the monsoon and dry season between surplus and scarcity because most of the hydro projects are of the run-of-river type without large reservoirs.To avoid electricity from going to waste during the monsoon, Nepal can export the surplus power to India, and import in winter. The agreements are in place with India to facilitate power trade, but current transmission lines cannot bear future load. The MCC-funded transmission lines are also required for domestic distribution and grid management.The present Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur crossborder transmission line connects India and Nepal but can only handle 1,000MW each way, but practically it can only bear 800MW. This means by late next year, Nepal’s new surplus monsoon electricity is sure to go waste.This will not just be a wasted opportunity for Nepal to reduce its trade imbalance and partly pay for its winter power import from India, but also affect private hydropower investors in Nepal. This scenario can be avoided if the proposed 400KVa Butwal-Gorakhpur transmission line.The catch here is that the NEA has signed an understanding with the private hydropower investors that it will buy electricity they generate only if the surplus can be exported to India. Any delay in building the Butwal-Gorakhpur transmission line to India, therefore would ultimately impact Nepal’s own private power producers. This put their investment at risk, affect the banking sector, and ultimately Nepal’s overall economy.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec279c7e80680e09ad4bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="946" height="526"><figcaption>Illustration: BHANU BHATTARAI</figcaption></figure>Critics of the MCC have pointed out that exporting power to India is not a priority, and Nepal should use power from the new projects to foster value-added energy-intensive industries in Nepal itself. However, the MCC transmission lines will be needed even to feed power within the country.In addition, at the rate power demand is rising in Nepal, even if 5,000MW is generated in the monsoon, the capacity of the run-of-river schemes will drop to one-third in the dry season – as it has done during this year’s winter drought. The higher capacity transmission lines are therefore required to import power from India until such time as Nepal’s generation capacity in winter is augmented with storage projects like Budi Gandaki.NEA’s Shakya says the MCC project will form a backbone of Nepal’s electricity grid, and by linking it to the Indian grid it will be more robust and flexible, allowing load sharing and management. The MCC-funded transmission lines are also critical for meeting Kathmandu Valley’s future demand growth, to transfer power generated in eastern Nepal to the western half of the country during the monsoon, and from west to east in the winter.Fortunately, electricity supply and demand in Nepal and India complement each other. In summer, when demand rises in India Nepal has surplus power, and in winter when Nepal’s supply cannot meet demand, it can import from India.The same is true within Nepal. There is a nearly one month lag between the time the monsoon arrives in eastern Nepal in early June, and by the time it starts raining heavily in western Nepal in mid-July. This means projects in eastern Nepal are already operating at full capacity, and the surplus electricity can be sent to western Nepal where it is still dry – if there was the necessary east-west transmission system.“The risk that we will have to face in the coming years if this project does not materialise will be unimaginable,” Shakya warns. “If these transmission lines are not built through the MCC grant, we have to immediately start moving towards an alternative.”Good connectivityNepal signed the MCC Compact Agreement in September 2017 which allowed the MCC Board in Washington to release the grant amount of $500 million (Rs59 billion) for the development of Nepal’s electricity transmission line and road infrastructure. But everything has been stuck for more than a year because a provision in the agreement that required ratification by Parliament.The Americans insisted on this clause so that the project would be valid no matter which government was in power in Nepal, but that is also the reason that the MCC has become a punching bag for those against Prime Minister Oli—even though his predecessors in other parties opposing the project were in government when the agreement was signed. The NC leadership which is now in the opposition, as well as NCP leaders that included the Maoist Centre and UML, who are vehemently getting the MCC scrapped today were involved in approving and planning the project.Foreign affairs experts explain that the MCC has been caught up in domestic oneupmanship between Nepal’s leaders and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/covid-19-and-the-new-great-game/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">international geopolitics</a>. Nepal’s politicians have a tendency to be north-facing or south-facing, or both, and are generally not able to work together for the national interest. This is made worse by the absence of trust, and a lack of dignity.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cec2a9c7e80680e09ad4cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000"><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>The US side has informed the government that the MCC grant is not open-ended and the deadline is looming. However, the MCC has also suffered collateral damage as Prime Minister Oli dissolved the Lower House on 20 December, and then ended the winter session on 19 April. The Special Session has been called for 10 May as Prime Minister Oli seeks a confidence vote. If he loses, the country will go for early elections in six month’s time. The budget session of the House could pass the MCC, but with the intense political polarisation, it will not be easy.Despite the agreement being signed by both governments, therefore, it is languishing because of Nepal’s internal dynamics. The main objection from the detractors is that it is a part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States, and that several provisions of the agreement undermine the sovereignty of Nepal.Bhim Rawal, a staunch anti-Oli UML leader, as well as Pushpa Kamal Dahal and other Maoist Centre leaders are against the agreement being ratified by Parliament, more because of their opposition to a project Oli is pushing than other reasons. A committee constituted under the convener of UML leader Jhalanath Khanal and others had recommended last year that the agreement be passed with amendments.Though the project has still not got off the ground, it has already spent about $3 million for preparations, which the US and Nepal government have shared half-half. It was used for the mapping and design of the transmission lines, the pylons, sub-stations, and preparing tender documents.The EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the overall project is in the final stages. The task of acquiring the land under the project in Ratmate of Nuwakot, where the sub-station will be constructed is nearing completion. The Nepal government has allocated Rs10.3 billion this fiscal year for MCC, but till mid-December only Rs140 million had been spent.

Power politics delays MCC in Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b84009c7e80680e06776cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHHETRI</figcaption></figure>Nepal's prolonged political deadlock has not just affected the country’s response to Covid-19, it has also delayed the implementation of an American-aided project to upgrade Nepal’s electricity transmission grid.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/knowing-whats-good-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">controversial</a> Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project is the biggest single bilateral grant for a specific project in Nepal by a foreign country, but <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-millennium-challenge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">has become the focus of an intense power struggle </a>rival parties, and is tangled in regional and global geopolitics.A big part of the $500 million MCC grant is ear-marked for the Kathmandu-Hetauda-Butwal 400KVa transmission line which will eventually evacuate electricity generated from existing and new <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decentralising-hydropower/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hydropower plants</a> on the Budi Gandaki, Trisuli, Kali Gandaki, Marsyangdi, Kosi, and Tamakosi corridors, and link it to Gorakhpur in India. A smaller component of the project will upgrade arterial highways. The Nepal government is putting up another $130 million as a counterpart fund.However, critics in Nepal see the MCC as America’s strategic counter to China’s Belt Road Initiative. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/knowing-whats-good-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">comment by US Under Secretary of State David J Ranz</a> in 2019 that the MCC was indeed a part of the US <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/between-two-oceans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Indo-Pacific Strategy</a>added fuel to the fire.Sandwiched between India and China, Nepal was already in a strategic tight spot, but a recent flare-up in Sino-Indian tension and US-China rivalry have caught Nepal in the crossfire. In addition, opponents of Prime Minister K P Oli have weaponised the MCC and used the project to weaken his position.But Nepal’s energy planners say that even if the MCC is delayed or cancelled, the country will have to find alternatives to build the transmission lines.“We cannot afford this uncertainty we must have a Plan B in place, otherwise we will face a huge problem. There will be all this electricity being generated in the next few years, but no way to take it to consumers,” says Hitendra Dev Shakya, who heads the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). “We have to build the transmission lines with or without American aid.”The reason behind the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-millennium-challenge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">transmission line being prioritised</a> is to send the electricity produced from throughout Nepal, and any future monsoon surplus can then be exported to India and the same lines can be used to import power in winter if required.New projects with a generation capacity of 330MW are under construction on the Bhote Kosi in Rasuwa and Nuwakot. A further 500MW will be generated from other hydropower schemes whose construction was delayed due to the pandemic.New 220KVa transmission lines are ready to bring that electricity to Kathmandu Valley, but they only have the capacity to carry the new load from projects now under construction. But the NEA has already made Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) to buy about 6,000MW of electricity from private operators, and the distribution of that power will depend on the MCC-funded distribution system. The NEA says it urgently needs another transmission link to bring power from plants on the Tama Kosi to Kathmandu and to eastern Nepal via Hetauda.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b84039c7e80680e06776djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="880" height="840"><a href="https://www.mcc.gov/where-we-work/country/nepal" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The MCC</a> was set up in 2004 by the US Congress during the George W Bush presidency to help developing nations reduce poverty through financial aid. Since then, as Sino-US tensions grew it has taken on a strategic dimension as the two powers compete for global connectivity. The $500 million MCC grant to Nepal was sanctioned in 2017 to improve Nepal’s energy and road infrastructure.Nepal was suffering 18 hours of power cuts a day when the agreement was signed, and after much deliberation, Nepal’s planners, politicians and bureaucrats decided that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-millennium-challenge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">transmission lines were the most urgently needed</a> since powerplants were already under construction. The generated electricity need to be taken to load centres, this would increase the renewable component of Nepal’s energy mix by replacing imported petroleum, and finally, to export any surplus to India.Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-truth-politics-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Millennium Challenge Authority Nepal (MCA-Nepal)</a> has been set up and the office has already finalised the design of the 315km transmission line of 400KVa capacity with three new sub-stations. But the delay in Parliament’s ratification of the project means it cannot issue tender bids, and this will put 2,600MW of electricity at risk of being wasted in eh coming two years.<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17959" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Khadga Bahadur Bista</a>, the CEO of MCA-Nepal estimates about it takes up to five months to select a contractor even if the project is ratified by Parliament, and after that, it will take another nine months to start construction.“We are all set to kick start this project and are ready to call for international tender bids, but due to it still pending in the Parliament we have not been able to make progress,” Bista told Nepali Times. Just Do ItThe NEA says that Nepal is now generating 1,400MW of electricity, and this is set to more than triple in the next three years to 5,000MW, with the largest hydropower project so far in Nepal, the 456MW Upper Tama Kosi coming on stream in July, if it is not delayed again by the lockdown.Other hydroelectricity projects totalling 2,500MW are planned are in the financial negotiations stage, they are set to come into operation by 2026.But the more urgent need is power transmission to accommodate the new projects in the next three years as Nepal struggles to keep up with demand. The current peak demand is 1,150MW, which drops to 700MW at night. Generation capacity also fluctuates during the monsoon and dry season between surplus and scarcity because most of the hydro projects are of the run-of-river type without large reservoirs.To avoid electricity from going to waste during the monsoon, Nepal can export the surplus power to India, and import in winter. The agreements are in place with India to facilitate power trade, but current transmission lines cannot bear future load. The MCC-funded transmission lines are also required for domestic distribution and grid management.The present Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur crossborder transmission line connects India and Nepal but can only handle 1,000MW each way, but practically it can only bear 800MW. This means by late next year, Nepal’s new surplus monsoon electricity is sure to go waste.This will not just be a wasted opportunity for Nepal to reduce its trade imbalance and partly pay for its winter power import from India, but also affect private hydropower investors in Nepal. This scenario can be avoided if the proposed 400KVa Butwal-Gorakhpur transmission line.The catch here is that the NEA has signed an understanding with the private hydropower investors that it will buy electricity they generate only if the surplus can be exported to India. Any delay in building the Butwal-Gorakhpur transmission line to India, therefore would ultimately impact Nepal’s own private power producers. This put their investment at risk, affect the banking sector, and ultimately Nepal’s overall economy.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b84069c7e80680e06776ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="946" height="526"><figcaption>Illustration: BHANU BHATTARAI</figcaption></figure>Critics of the MCC have pointed out that exporting power to India is not a priority, and Nepal should use power from the new projects to foster value-added energy-intensive industries in Nepal itself. However, the MCC transmission lines will be needed even to feed power within the country.In addition, at the rate power demand is rising in Nepal, even if 5,000MW is generated in the monsoon, the capacity of the run-of-river schemes will drop to one-third in the dry season – as it has done during this year’s winter drought. The higher capacity transmission lines are therefore required to import power from India until such time as Nepal’s generation capacity in winter is augmented with storage projects like Budi Gandaki.NEA’s Shakya says the MCC project will form a backbone of Nepal’s electricity grid, and by linking it to the Indian grid it will be more robust and flexible, allowing load sharing and management. The MCC-funded transmission lines are also critical for meeting Kathmandu Valley’s future demand growth, to transfer power generated in eastern Nepal to the western half of the country during the monsoon, and from west to east in the winter.Fortunately, electricity supply and demand in Nepal and India complement each other. In summer, when demand rises in India Nepal has surplus power, and in winter when Nepal’s supply cannot meet demand, it can import from India.The same is true within Nepal. There is a nearly one month lag between the time the monsoon arrives in eastern Nepal in early June, and by the time it starts raining heavily in western Nepal in mid-July. This means projects in eastern Nepal are already operating at full capacity, and the surplus electricity can be sent to western Nepal where it is still dry – if there was the necessary east-west transmission system.“The risk that we will have to face in the coming years if this project does not materialise will be unimaginable,” Shakya warns. “If these transmission lines are not built through the MCC grant, we have to immediately start moving towards an alternative.”Good connectivityNepal signed the MCC Compact Agreement in September 2017 which allowed the MCC Board in Washington to release the grant amount of $500 million (Rs59 billion) for the development of Nepal’s electricity transmission line and road infrastructure. But everything has been stuck for more than a year because a provision in the agreement that required ratification by Parliament.The Americans insisted on this clause so that the project would be valid no matter which government was in power in Nepal, but that is also the reason that the MCC has become a punching bag for those against Prime Minister Oli—even though his predecessors in other parties opposing the project were in government when the agreement was signed. The NC leadership which is now in the opposition, as well as NCP leaders that included the Maoist Centre and UML, who are vehemently getting the MCC scrapped today were involved in approving and planning the project.Foreign affairs experts explain that the MCC has been caught up in domestic oneupmanship between Nepal’s leaders and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/covid-19-and-the-new-great-game/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">international geopolitics</a>. Nepal’s politicians have a tendency to be north-facing or south-facing, or both, and are generally not able to work together for the national interest. This is made worse by the absence of trust, and a lack of dignity.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b84089c7e80680e06776fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000"><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>The US side has informed the government that the MCC grant is not open-ended and the deadline is looming. However, the MCC has also suffered collateral damage as Prime Minister Oli dissolved the Lower House on 20 December, and then ended the winter session on 19 April. The Special Session has been called for 10 May as Prime Minister Oli seeks a confidence vote. If he loses, the country will go for early elections in six month’s time. The budget session of the House could pass the MCC, but with the intense political polarisation, it will not be easy.Despite the agreement being signed by both governments, therefore, it is languishing because of Nepal’s internal dynamics. The main objection from the detractors is that it is a part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States, and that several provisions of the agreement undermine the sovereignty of Nepal.Bhim Rawal, a staunch anti-Oli UML leader, as well as Pushpa Kamal Dahal and other Maoist Centre leaders are against the agreement being ratified by Parliament, more because of their opposition to a project Oli is pushing than other reasons. A committee constituted under the convener of UML leader Jhalanath Khanal and others had recommended last year that the agreement be passed with amendments.Though the project has still not got off the ground, it has already spent about $3 million for preparations, which the US and Nepal government have shared half-half. It was used for the mapping and design of the transmission lines, the pylons, sub-stations, and preparing tender documents.The EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the overall project is in the final stages. The task of acquiring the land under the project in Ratmate of Nuwakot, where the sub-station will be constructed is nearing completion. The Nepal government has allocated Rs10.3 billion this fiscal year for MCC, but till mid-December only Rs140 million had been spent.

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

Thousands of Nepali students dreaming of an American education have been forced to look elsewhere as the Trump administration’s visa restrictions make their future uncertain.
The US was long considered a top destination for higher studies, making Nepal the 10th biggest country of origin for international students in America.&nbsp;
However, that number has seen a significant decline with the total for Nepali students now at 16,482. Some 8,000 Nepali students obtained no-objection certificates to study in the US from the Ministry of Education in the past year.&nbsp;
India, Australia, Canada, South Korea, United Kingdom and Japan are the other popular destinations for Nepali students. There are no clear numbers for Nepalis going to India, but a slight decline was noted this year after the deaths of two female students.
The US State Department has issued a circular to its embassies not to issue new visas to applicants until further notice. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the directive stated that the department planned to expand the screening of applicants' social media.&nbsp;
While new applicants are barred including those applying for visitor visas, students with scheduled interviews are allowed to proceed.
“Many of our students are affected by the new restrictions, but those who had applied for student visas earlier have got interview dates,” one Kathmandu-based college counsellor told us.
Meanwhile, even foreign students with spotless records already in the US have not been spared, as visa scrutiny intensifies under the new policy. In a move that underscores the growing sense of insecurity, many US colleges advised international students to carry their passports and documents at all times, even when traveling locally.
“Me and my friends did not go home this summer because we were not sure we would be allowed back, so we just went to Niagara Falls,” said a Nepali undergrad in Ohio, who like many interviewed for this report did not want her name used for fear of repercussion.
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Nepali students have adopted a cautious stance, with many choosing not to return home during summer vacation due to fear of visa revocations as well as travel bans. Meanwhile, over 7,000 Nepalis with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will have to come back to Nepal by 5 August or face deportation. Thirty-seven were flown back to Kathmandu on Omni Air last week.
“The US is one of the most sought-after destinations for higher education, and the ban will definitely impact bright students,” says Narottam Aryal of the King’s College in Kathmandu.
Indeed, Nepali undergraduates admitted into Ivy League colleges for the 2025 academic year have been asked to look for alternatives. The entire Fulbright Foreign Scholarships Board resigned on Wednesday citing interference from the Trump administration on the selection of this year’s cohort. Some Nepali students already on Fulbright scholarships have noted disruptions, delays and even cancellation of stipends.&nbsp;
The student visa restrictions were initially just for foreign students admitted to Harvard University, but it was later extended to all Chinese students and now to all students. Universities like Columbia which actively recruit foreign students, face sharp enrolment declines, threatening their financial stability and diversity.
An Indian female PhD candidate at Columbia University had her visa revoked by the US State Department, and said she was targeted on the basis of her social media posts on Israeli military attacks in Gaza. Social media vetting of political activism has raised concerns about privacy and freedom of expression in a country where such rights were a given.
Many students have been informed via email that their visas have been revoked for getting speeding or parking tickets, but even others with no criminal record have been affected. The fear of deportation looms large amongst international students, including those from Nepal.&nbsp;
For most Nepalis who migrate to the US for education, the journey is a high-stakes investment. They come largely from middle-class families, often rely on a patchwork of scholarships, work-study programs, loans, or even the sale of family assets to afford fees.
Most Nepali students pursue STEM subjects which offer extended Optional Practical Training (OPT) periods that help fund their education. But with the US backsliding on education and humanitarian matters, countries like the UK and Canada are becoming more attractive despite their own recent stricter controls on student visas.&nbsp;
The UK universities saw a 63% rise in Nepali students’ admissions in 2024. Japan is another popular destination with 64,816 Nepali students enrolled as of 2024.
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Already, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia are poised to benefit from the increased scrutiny of US student visas. Several Hong Kong universities are offering unconditional admission to affected students, while Malaysian institutions are targeting previously US-bound Asian students. China and India have 330,000 and 280,000 students respectively in America, but the numbers for China have seen a sharp drop in the past year.
Elsewhere, branch campuses of American institutions such as NYU in Abu Dhabi, Georgetown in Dubai and Northwestern in Doha are getting more admission applications, and universities in the Gulf region are expanding infrastructure to accommodate those who would otherwise have gone to the US.&nbsp;
Even educational institutions in Nepal are hopeful that the US visa restrictions can be an opportunity to at least keep Nepali undergrads in Nepal, and also attract foreign students from the region.&nbsp;
“Many students might choose to complete their undergraduate degree here in Nepal and then move abroad for their Master’s degree later,” says Aryal of King’s College. “There was a need for quality higher education in Nepal anyway in terms of innovation and opportunities, so this could be the time to reduce our dependence on other countries.”
Nepal’s strategic position between India and China makes it sensitive to US policy shifts. India, a key ally, is also under US scrutiny for potential student travel restrictions. Chinese universities are already offering more scholarships to Nepali talent to capitalise on the US retreat.
American universities have challenged student visa restrictions in the courts. A federal court in Boston revoked the blanket ban on Harvard, and the State Department has ordered the resumption of processing student and exchange visitor visas.&nbsp;
Some are still hoping that President Trump will backtrack on the student visa restrictions, just like he has done with many of his more drastic executive orders.
Even so, the visa see-saw and longer-term uncertainties about living in the United States and its education system means students across the world are making alternative plans.
Says Aryal: “Policies of foreign countries change according to their needs, so excessive dependence was never a good idea. We should work to create different opportunities and choices of higher education within Nepal, so students are retained.” &nbsp;

America no longer prime destination for Nepali students

While Nepal was hosting the Sagarmatha Sambaad international climate conference in Kathmandu this month, on Mt Everest it was pretty much business as usual.&nbsp; The signs of climate breakdown are all there: a river now runs through Base Camp in summer, the Khumbu Icefall is more unstable, and there are more &nbsp;frequent avalanches. When expeditions arrived in March, the mountains were bare: it had not snowed since September, but then blizzards dumped unseasonal snow in May. And despite climate worries, such is the pull of Himalayan mountaineering that the Everest Industry showed no signs of slowdown. More than 600 international climbers and their Nepali guides had made it to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. At one point there were an estimated 2,000 people in the tent city on the Khumbu Glacier. All the ropes and ladders on the Icefall came down on Thursday, marking the official end of the spring climbing season, and just in time to avoid a monsoon cyclone approaching from the Bay of Bengal. It has been an action-packed season. One factor could be that Everest fees will go up from September: each foreign climber needs to pay a $15,000 royalty, up from the present $11,000. The cost for a Nepali climber on the South Col route will also go up: from Rs75,000 to Rs150,000.&nbsp; The fee to climb Everest in autumn is $7,500 (up from $5,500), but most climbers still prefer spring. Winter permit fee (December-February) is only $3,750 per person and the mountain is now also open for monsoon (June-August) climbs, when the fee is ever lower at $2,750. The revised rule also makes it mandatory for every two climbers on an 8,000m peak to hire one Nepali mountain guide.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046" data-rendition-name="original" width="931" height="732" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry graph 1"> </figure>  In addition, climbers also have to pay for porters and guides, equipment, Base Camp costs, Ice Fall and fixed rope team fees, so climbing Everest does not come cheap. But such is the draw of climbing the world’s highest peak that some say the increased fees will not diminish the crowds next year. The government has tried to spread expeditions out to other seasons and other 8,000ers, but with not much success. Earlier this year, Nepal unilaterally increased the number of 8,000m peaks to 14 by adding six more sub-summits to broaden the choice for climbers. Added were: Yalung Kang (8,505m), Yalung Kang West (8,077m) &nbsp;Kangchenjunga Central (8,473m), Kangchenjunga South (8,476m), Lhotse Middle (8,410m) and Lhotse Shar (8,400m).&nbsp; The announcement could go against the accepted topographic criteria that a stand alone peak has to be at least 300m higher than an adjoining prominence, and at more than 3km isolation from it. The UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme) still recognises only 14 mountains as eight-thousanders, and only eight of those are in Nepal, or on the border with China. Nepal’s revised mountaineering regulations also increased the insurance coverage of high-altitude workers to protect porters and high altitude guides who usually take more risks on the mountains. Rescue teams and clean-up campaigners to collect trash and remove bodies of dead climbers up to Camp IV of Mt Everest do not need permits.&nbsp; The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee is now using drones to fly down trash in 20kg sacks. Each climber is also required to bring down at least 6kg of waste and not just their own, but this rule is erratically enforced. With five fatalities on Everest and Lhotse, Spring 2025 had a historically low death toll. Another five climbers died on Annapurna, Kangchenjunga and Makalu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a" data-rendition-name="original" width="665" height="740" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest industry graph 2"> </figure>  Journalist Ben Ayers who ran the Everest Live social media channel from Everest Base Camp with daily updates credited the low death rate to dramatic rescues of climbers from the ‘Death Zone’ by their Nepali guides and longline helievacs — the visuals all uploaded on YouTube.&nbsp; “Ironically, this perception of safety is bringing more and more inexperienced climbers to the mountain, and they need more rescues,” Ayers said in one of his dispatches.&nbsp; American expedition chronicler and summiteer Alan Arnette suspects there is a lot of under-reporting given that the jet stream and storms were lashing Everest even till late in the season. He told us: “I heard a lot about frostbite and rescues that were not made public. It’s become practically impossible to cover the details on Everest. All the teams report nice news, and they don’t talk about bad stuff to avoid hurting businesses.” Although trash on Nepal’s mountains makes headlines, what does not receive as much attention is the climate impact of so many expeditions. The Sagarmatha Sambaad conference sidestepped this issue, which is ironic given that the impact of climate breakdown is most evident on Himalayan peaks and their glaciers.&nbsp; <h2>Need for Speed</h2> The big stories this year have been about speed-running from their home cities to the top of Everest. Ukrainian entrepreneur Andrew Ushakov flew out of JFK on 15 May at 10:15AM Nepal time, and was on the summit 3 days, 23 hours, and 7 minutes later on 19 May at 9:22AM.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885" data-rendition-name="original" width="1440" height="1800" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry"> <figcaption>Andrew Ushakov at the summt. Photo: ELITE EXPED</figcaption> </figure>  “I could never find the time for the traditional 40-50 days of acclimatisation,” Ushakov explained matter-of-factly. His ‘Everest Sea-to-Summit’ climb was possible because he spent 400 hours in hypoxic sleep tents over the past four years in New York. However, Ushakov did use ropes already fixed, hired four Nepali guides, helicoptered to Base Camp, and used much more oxygen than an average climber. And after the climb, Ushakov was arrested at Kathmandu airport for being in possession of $20,000 of undeclared cash and spent a night in jail and fined $60,000.&nbsp; The other speedsters were Garth Miller, Alastair Cairns, Anthony Stazicker, and Kev Godlington, all former British Army commandos. They left London and summited five days later on 21 May, and flew right back. They also used hypoxic tents to simulate the thin air high on Everest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8" data-rendition-name="original" width="810" height="668" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry "> <figcaption>All four members of the Furtenbach team at the summit. Photo: Sandro Gromen-Hayes</figcaption> </figure>  But more controversial was their use of xenon gas therapy in a German hospital to ramp up the production of oxygen-carrying haemoglobins in their blood. Xenon is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency for being performance enhancing in sports. Expedition leader Lukas Furtenbach said this rule does not apply to mountaineering, as it is not a regulated sport like swimming. Nepal has no rules about xenon, but the Department of Tourism said it was launching an ‘investigation’ to decide on future policy since it is difficult to ban xenon, but allow oxygen. The controversy has also divided the mountaineering community, with some climbers saying they just want to maximise their chances of survival. Spending less time on the mountain could make climbing safer by reducing avalanche risk. It would also mean less trash on the mountains, but it would reduce the income of Nepal’s expedition industry. It is also unclear how much of the success was due to xenon therapy and whether the ex-special forces were already in good physical shape.&nbsp; The need for speed hides the fact that climbing in the Himalaya is dangerous business, and climbers cannot sprint to the top just by huffing xenon. But ultra-fast climbs could be charged more, and the revenue generated can be used to establish state-of-the-art rescue operations, and increase pay and insurance for guides. Two other speed chasers this season were Swiss-Ecuadorian Karl Egloff and American Tyler Andrews, both on Everest without oxygen. Andrews choppered to Base Camp to catch a weather window, but turned back from 8,500m due to high winds. Heavy snow and wind also forced Egloff to descend from 7,000m. Slow and steady climbers like Anja Blacha from Germany did make it to the summit without oxygen, while Kami Rita Sherpa broke his own record with his 31st Everest summit as he led a 26-strong Indian Army group. There were 468 permits issued for foreign climbers from 48 expeditions to Everest this spring. Nepal’s other eight-thousanders together had only 17 expeditions. Nepal has more than 1,000 peaks above 6,000m, and has opened only 476 of them for climbing.&nbsp;

The Everest Industry

That winter day in January 1664 marked an exceptional event in the reign of King Pratap Malla of Kathmandu. It was 15 Paush 784 of the Nepal Sambat and for the first time, a historical event was being immortalised on canvas for generations to come.&nbsp; The occasion was the grand Tuladaan ceremony of the King’s youngest son Chakrabartendra Malla from his wife Anantapriya, an Indian princess from Cooch Behar in present-day Assam.&nbsp; During the ritual, the prince was weighed against gold, silver, pearls, and other precious stones, which were then offered to Goddess Taleju Bhavani, the guardian deity of the Malla dynasty.&nbsp; The 170 x120cm painting captures the time of King Pratap Malla in all its splendour and is more than a personal tribute to his son: it is a significant visual historical document. It was evidently completed five years later in 1669, and could be considered a photographic record, with retrospective recreation of the event by the unknown artist. A Tuladaan ceremony is performed to purify one’s karma, quell impending bad luck, or as an act of charity and devotion. Chakrabartendra Malla was not well, and the ritual was performed in hopes of restoring his health. King Pratap Malla had arranged for each of his sons to take turns ruling Kathmandu so they got administrative experience. But Chakrabartendra died just two days after assuming power in 1670 (790 NS). This painting is considered the earliest known example in which the composition is dominated by an architectural landscape: the Taleju Temple. Given the stylistic features such as side-profile facial depictions and the rendering of human forms, it is believed that the Nepali artist was trained by a Rajput master.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250615040624_ddad3bc27a327e3f9926c8473287e4f14b53081296c295049009f327a4d97051.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250615040624_ddad3bc27a327e3f9926c8473287e4f14b53081296c295049009f327a4d97051" data-rendition-name="original" width="3248" height="4395" loading="lazy" alt="Tuladaan NT"> </figure>  During that era, there were regular exchanges of artists between Northern India and Kathmandu Valley. The painting is also a melding of Nepali, Tibetan, Mughal, and Rajput art styles of the time. Pratap Malla could have been inspired by a painting of Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s Tuladaan ceremony for his son Khurram in 1607. The Mallas and Mughals shared cordial relations, which is reflected in the cultural influences seen in the art and attire of the period.&nbsp; The clothing of the Malla ruling class, in particular, features colourful tunics, turbans, and jewelry that display strong Rajput and Mughal stylistic elements. The musicians in the upper tier are also dressed in Indian-style clothing, while the ensemble on the lower steps wear local attire, notably without turbans. Their hairstyles also differ, with the lower group wearing their hair tied in a bun at the front. This national treasure is currently in storage at the Collège de France in Paris, and has never been publicly displayed. Nepal’s art scholars like Gautam Vajracharya, Pratap Aditya Pal and Anne Vergati have written about this iconic paubha in the past, but the only detailed study is from the perspective of music history by researcher Richard Widdess who had access to high resolution copies of the original.&nbsp; Widdess from the Department of Music at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London describes the paubha as the most significant and richly detailed documentation of music in Nepali art. He identifies distinct musical ensembles on the terraces of the temple, and remarkably most of them are actively used today. One of them reflects the Mughal naqqārakhāna model — a loud outdoor ensemble typically composed of kettledrums, trumpets, and cymbals, traditionally performed from the gateway of the emperor’s palace to announce his entrances and exits. The depiction of such an ensemble in the tulādāna painting is likely the earliest known representation of a complete naqqārakhāna in Nepal — considered the forerunner of the panche baja, the traditional Nepali ensemble. On the stepped pyramid base of the temple are two groups of musicians playing local instruments: dhimey, bhushya, and dha. They are unmistakably Newar musicians, wearing short skirts and short-sleeved tops, with bare heads and legs—clearly distinguished as local performers.&nbsp; Higher still on the temple pyramid are musicians of apparently higher status, positioned close to the king, and his courtiers, possibly professional court musicians from India, well-versed in rāga and tāla. A dāphā group is also clearly depicted, identifiable by their characteristic instruments.&nbsp; Dāphā bhajan is likely the oldest surviving tradition of Newar devotional singing, and this paubha is the oldest visual record of it. Pratap Malla himself is believed to have composed songs that continue to be performed by dāphā groups throughout Kathmandu till today.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025061211064_d67636730cdc0ec778c02494817aca0b99654f2950d0fae4b95499a61faf7ef3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025061211064_d67636730cdc0ec778c02494817aca0b99654f2950d0fae4b95499a61faf7ef3" data-rendition-name="original" width="596" height="768" loading="lazy" alt="Priceless paubha in Paris NT"> </figure>  The artist’s thorough attention to musical detail may be attributed to King Pratap Malla’s own deep interest in music. His inscriptions on this painting and elsewhere proclaim his mastery of all branches of knowledge, including music. He is also known as the author of dance dramas and poems, penning his name as Kavindra (king of poets). Some noteworthy elements of new art techniques stand out: for example, the roof of the temple is filled with realistically rendered white doves, pigeons, and crows. This is a rare feature in paubha, where animals and birds are stylised, mythological forms. This remarkably talented unknown artist has managed to also render an orthographic projection: the front and side view of Nepal’s first architectural paubha. The Taleju Temple, with its staggering multi-tiered structure and numerous steps and platforms, is masterfully translated into layers within the painting. This represents a significant artistic achievement of the time, especially considering that dimensional perspectives had not started in deity-based paubha.&nbsp; The artist has also made a meticulous effort to capture architectural details such as the toran (ornamental arch) and temple struts with impressive precision. There are flickering lamps along the steps and some people carrying what appear to be oil pots.&nbsp; It is a full moon night and the dark sky is adorned with all the gods and goddesses, who are depicted as blessing the ceremony while seated on stylised thangka clouds. There is a lot happening in this painting, with people engaged in various activities. The artist has also rendered a forest backdrop behind the temple, complete with deer, trees, and flowers. Could there have once been a royal garden behind the Taleju Temple?&nbsp; More details and clarity can only be achieved if we are able to view the original or a high-resolution scanned version of the artwork. Many countries proudly display art depicting historical events in their national museums with great reverence. France, for example, has The Coronation of Emperor Napoleon and Empress Joséphine by Jacques-Louis David (1808–1822), along with numerous paintings of the Napoleonic Wars. Many were commissioned by Napoleon himself for future generations to remember.&nbsp; For Nepal, the equivalent is the Tuladaan paubha which is a visual record capturing a historic moment involving one of Kathmandu’s greatest kings, on the very day the event took place. Sadly, we await the day when this masterpiece is displayed, shared in high resolution for detailed study, or more rightfully — repatriated to its homeland, where it truly belongs. &nbsp; Shaguni Singh Sakya is the Director of the Museum of Nepali Arts (MoNA) at Kathmandu Guest House in Thamel. <h2>Gods homeward bound</h2> The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign and Nepal’s Department of Archaeology are convening the first international conference on the Recovery of Cultural Heritage from 16-18 June in Patan. The conference will address urgent issues of theft, illicit trafficking, the campaign to repatriate looted cultural artifacts, and explore how the return of sacred antiquities contributes to justice, healing, and reconciliation for communities and nations affected by cultural loss. American art crime professor Erin L Thompson and Saubhagya Pradhananga of the Department of Archaeology will deliver the keynote. Meanwhile, author and Nepali Times publisher Kunda Dixit will lead a conversation on Illicit Trafficking: Public Opinion and Role of Media with Erin Thompson, Amr Al Azm, associate professor of Middle East History and Anthropology at Shawnee State University in Ohio, as well as Bradley J Gordon, a lawyer based in Phnom Penh. There will be sessions looking at repatriation perspectives from Cambodia, India, Vietnam, China and Poland, international frameworks for repatriation, emerging digital technologies in the repatriation of cultural heritage, cultural property agreements, museums as well as trends in the art market, and heritage diplomacy and the role of media.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025061211068_59cfccfa8f5d73bfe8b4c5811a7f53abc09ea04e8cb7c638933d62e5283efdf6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025061211068_59cfccfa8f5d73bfe8b4c5811a7f53abc09ea04e8cb7c638933d62e5283efdf6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="1350" loading="lazy" alt="Heritage recovery NT"> </figure>  <h2> </h2> Some of the other highlights include James K. Reap, a professor in the Master of Historic Preservation Program at the University of Georgia who has a session on the US response to illicit trafficking. Art historian Lea Saint-Raymond is taking on “Gods at Auction: The Market for Himalayan Artefacts”, while lecturer of criminology at the University of Glasgow Emiline Smith is delving into transformative approaches to heritage ownership and repatriation. Helena Arose of Antiquities Coalition and Melina Antoniadis of NOSTOS Strategies that specialise on the return home of cultural heritage as well as Hao Liu of International Cultural Heritage Law at the School of Law at Shandong University are some of the others attending. The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign was set up in 2020 to develop a coordinated movement to reclaim Nepal’s stolen gods and goddesses, with an aim to ensure that recovered items are returned to their original shrines, niches or sanctums. Ahead of the conference opening organisers have arranged for a film screening of Loot &amp; Return: 4 Documentaries at YalaMaya Kendra in Patan Dhoka between 14-15 June. Following the conference is a multimedia exhibition titled Absent Gods: Nepal’s Lost Heritage from 31 July to 4 August at Patan Museum.

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The Everest Industry

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