Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar on Sunday said Nepal could emerge as the richest country in  South Asia if it exploits its rich water resources by setting up more power plants.

Interacting with Nepali journalists over a luncheon at his official residence in Bihar state capital Patna, Kumar further said that the Bihar government is also willing to buy any excess amount of electricity from Nepal that is left after local consumption.

He further said both Bihar and neighbouring Nepal can prevent recurrent floods that take hundreds of lives and cause millions of rupees in losses every year if the rivers in Nepal are managed by building embankments for the purpose of generating power and irrigation.

The Bihar chief minister said that Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai's goodwill visit to Patna to inaugurate the Global Bihar Summit on Friday was a "significant gesture" which Bihar will never forget. nepalnews.com