KATHMANDU, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Friday that it has approved a loan of 150 million U.S. dollars to Nepal to help improve the Himalayan nation's electricity supply and distribution system.
Due to poor distribution mechanism, electricity leakage in Nepal stands at around 25 percent of total electricity supply, according to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned power utility body of Nepal.
Losses during the transmission of electricity and electricity theft have remained as a chronic problem of Nepal which has long been suffering from energy crisis.
However, there has been improvement in power supply due to increased power supply from within the country and from India as well as better management of electricity supply. The NEA will be implementing the project to be financed by the ADB.
"We are confident that the project will help improve electricity distribution and efficiency in the country, and significantly support the government's goal of ending the country's energy crisis within the next two years," said Jiwan Acharya, an ADB senior energy specialist.
According to ADB, the project will enhance the distribution capacity and improve reliability and quality of electricity supply in the Kathmandu Valley by reducing distribution system overloads and technical and commercial losses.
