Politics and Load Shedding

New York - Prakash Kumar Shrestha
Published in www.nepalipost.com 13 February 2009 10:36 am | 0 comments

The world is in financial crisis, followed by economic recession but Nepal is in unprecedented energy crisis, having load-shedding of 14 hours per day. This shows that we are going back toward past decades in ”New Nepal”. Why do we have this difficult situation in this modern age? General people do not know the detail facts of hydropower development. However, they want enough electricity by paying reasonable price. Whose responsibility is to ensure the generation of hydropower?

In this modern and liberalized world, resources and techniques are not the major constraints for the development of the infrastructure like hydropower. And, we have an abundant supply of labor and nature-given water resources. Then, according to economic theory, there should be the production or supply to meet demand. We should not have current horrible situation of power shortage. Then, what has gone wrong resulting in such a severe crisis? We need to look at this from the political economic perspective to identify reasons and solutions. It is the politics in general, and particularly over water, that has been preventing hydropower projects from being constructed.

Everyone would agree that we have not had right and investment friendly political environment so far, although we are moving in right direction politically. Political instability and internal conflict since 1990, which still continues, has been seriously impacting our developmental work and capacity. In the history, however, almost all countries in the world had passed through the some sort of conflict and war. But, in many advanced countries, after the conflict and war, they began a right path of development with political consensus.

Although we are now republic, our political environment has not improved much for investment and economic development. Still, political parties are quarreling for trivial matters, ignoring major issues of the economy and country. It looks that they are again going to repeat the game, which was seen in the 1990s after the restoration of multiparty democracy, pulling the country back in the development index. They are now once again forgetting the promises they had made in front of people.

Now Nepal is seriously lacking energy, because of which productive activities are suffering. However, it has not been a matter of seriousness and discussion in political arena, which holds decision and commanding power to get the things done. Unfortunately, we are just observing cheap drama among parties, suffering from same sort of disease of not being able to manage their own party first. Experience has revealed that the party in the power is most vulnerable to split and prone to internal conflict. Political leaders are not giving a very small fraction of their time to think, discuss and implement economic issues and agendas. Despite political difference, they can have common agenda for economic development. Why not they inaugurate the construction of 10 or more hydropower projects simultaneously by all leaders being together immediately? Why not all parties expedite the construction work by mobilizing their own youth wings? Why not they set aside their political difference, at least for developmental work? It will provide people with some hope about future that they will get electricity and better life after suffering for certain time.

Now, in the world market, the prices of oil and construction materials have declined significantly, owing to recession in the world. For Nepal, it can be the right time to accelerate the construction of infrastructure in order to boost the economy and provide employment to the mass. However, the statistics of first four months published by Nepal Rastra Bank showed the weak capital expenditure of the government. Private sector is also not getting amicable environment to invest.

People are expecting the economic revolution from the parties jointly as we saw in the last phase of political revolution? Experience and history of advanced countries showed that even without natural resources countries can make progress; just we need unity, commitment and good politics. We can borrow money and technique for development, but can we borrow politics? Can our political leaders ready to give our country on contract for management and development? Even after the historical political change of being republic, we have yet to see new change in behaviors of political parties and way of running government.

Our present is the outcome of past, we can easily blame for past, but can we do something good so that future won’t blame us. If we don’t get prosperous Nepal after being republic, then what will be the difference between the Rana Regime and the current regime? How long we will have to suffer for energy, employment, and equality? How long we will have to go foreign countries for employment? Can political parties give an hour per day to ponder over these things and get solutions and implement it? General people don’t have any choice but to expect answer from the political parties. Our political leaders look complacent on crisis that the capitalist economies have been facing now, but are not worrying to have 14 hours load shedding. They are also ignoring the fact that we need a huge sum of capital to generate the targeted ”10000 MW”, which we get from the capitalist economies only. In fact, there should be capitalist mode of production to provide incentive and socialistic mode of distribution to get equality in the economy. In electricity generation, market along cannot produce without effective and supportive role of the government. Hence, the government has the sole responsibility to end the current energy crisis and political parties should support it, putting aside political differences.