Nepal needs small electricity projects to decrease the load shedding in the country, an expert said Tuesday.

"Nepal is producing only 553 Megawatts (MW) out of the total electricity demand of over 600 MW of power in the country," Bhola Chalise, former secretary of the Water Resources Ministry, said in an interaction function.

Electricity occupies only 1.66 percent of the total energy consumption in the country, Chalise noted, adding the Nepali people have to bear the burden of weekly 17 hours of load-shedding. "

According to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the Peak Load of Electricity (PLoE), the largest state-owed electricity company, produced 556.3 MW in 2005 and 593.6 MW in 2006.

The NEA has projected the electricity produced by the PLoE will reach 634.2 MW in 2007. "This shows that the PLoE is increasing by 10 percent annually," Chalise noted.

A total of 50 people including experts and journalist took part at the function organized by the Research and Media Center Against Corruption, a non-government organization.

Source: Xinhua