Nepal will import 70 megawatts additional power from India, deputy-managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said here Sunday.

"Negotiations are in the final stages to import 70 megawatts ( MW) of additional power from India," Uttar Kumar Shrestha, deputy managing director of NEA, the government-owned electricity supplier of the country, told reporters.

The import of 20 MW from Bihar Electricity Board is expected to take place very soon, Shrestha noted, adding that import of another 50 MW will take place next year from West Bengal.

Nepal has a power exchange agreement with India for up to 150 MW, less than half of which has been exchanged so far, Shrestha noted.

Nepal is currently facing a major power deficit of 1.3 million units, making load shedding hours unavoidable.

The total demand of power is 8.2 million units in the country, he added.

Source: Xinhua