'Bright Gandaki Province' to be announced

The Gandaki Province is to be declared as a 'Bright Gandaki Province' in Fiscal Year 2023-24 by means of mass electrification campaign within the province.

It is stated in the province budget for fiscal year 2023-24 that this goal would be attained by carrying out electrification and expansion of alternative energy throughout the Gandaki Province.

Provincial government finance minister Jeet Prakash Ale said that the required budget has been allocated for installing solar energy facilities in the remaining households still deprived of electricity in the province. According to him, Rs 17.5 million has been allocated for rebuilding, repair and maintenance of micro hydropower projects damaged due to natural disaster and other causes, and feeding the power produced from these projects to the national grid.

The provincial minister added that a feasibility study would be initiated for generating wind power and 'floating solar' panels, and programmes for increasing the number of population using electric ovens instead of those using LPG would be implemented.

According to him, installation of institutional solar power has been continued with the goal of supplying regular power to the public offices, health posts, schools and educational institutions.

The institutional solar energy installation programme will be conducted to initiate installing the solar energy technology to provide heating facility to at least one room in the health posts operating a birthing centre in the mountainous districts. Rs 10 million has been earmarked for this purpose. Likewise, the provincial government has made provision in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year for providing cent per cent subsidy in electricity tariff to the lift water supply and irrigation projects run in the province. Rs 50 million has been earmarked for this purpose.