Every house will have electricity in three years: Energy Minister Pun

            Chitwan, Oct 23 : Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Barshaman Pun has said the house of every Nepali will have electricity and would be illuminated within three years.

            Minister Pun said this while speaking in a discussions programme on the topic, “Narayani River Embankment,” organized by the Bharatpur municipality today. He claimed that 41 districts would have full electrification in the current fiscal year.

            Stating that a budget of Rs 280 million has been allocated in this fiscal year for this purpose, the Energy Minister shared that Chitwan was among those 41 districts. The whole of the country would be electrified within three years, he declared on the occasion.

            He further said that the concept of operating ship in the Narayani River has been forwarded to materialize the Prime Minister’s dream of operating ship in Nepal.

            “A study has shown that ship can be operated from Dasdhunga up to the border with India. As per this study, ship carrying 250 to 300 containers can be operated in the Narayani river provided the water level in the river at all places is one and half metres,” he said.

            Saying the Narayani river seemed better than the Koshi river (for operating ship), he asserted that this fact also showed more prospects for the development of Bharatpur.

Minister Pun added that the concept of ‘smart street lamp’ has been forwarded in order to make the Bharatpur Metropolitan City ‘illuminated’. He said smart street lamps will be installed in the metropolis at a cost of Rs 200 million, in the form of a model project.

            The government, according to him, is in the learning phase of running three tiers of government in keeping with the federal system. It is also moving ahead with a goal of sustainable development in a planned way.  The government has allotted around Rs 6 billion this year for river control projects and construction of embankments. He assured that adequate budget would be made available for construction of embankment in the Narayani river.

            State Assembly members Bijaya Subedi and Milan Babu Shrestha stressed on the beed of construction of embankment in the Narayani and Rapti rivers on time.

            Bharatpur Metropolitan City mayor Renu Dahal urged Minister Pun to provide adequate budget so as to expedite the works on construction of embankment in the Narayani river, make arrangements for irrigation in west Chitwan and building the local Ring Road.

            Mayor Dahal requested the Minister to also make arrangements for sufficient budget for the ‘smart street lamp’ the Narayani lift irrigation and Khageri irrigation projects.

            Secretary at the Ministry, Rabindra Shrestha, Executive Director of the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, Madhu Sudan Adhikari, Bharatpur metropolis  ward number 26 chair Gyan Prasad Khanal, Bharatpur metropolis engineer Bharat Acharya, Acting chair of Bharatpur metropolis ward number 16 Om Rawal, president of Chitwan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sahan Lal Pradhan., among the speakers stressed the need of expediting projects related to energy, water resources, irrigation and local development.