Nepal energy demand up

NEPAL: Nepal's energy demand is projected to increase four folds over the next 20 years, according to the National Energy Strategy (NES) 2010.

The projected demand, estimated on the assumption that the country's economic growth will remain at 5.6 percent on average till 2030, might go up if the country achieves higher growth rates, NES underlined.

Nepal's economic growth rate was 3.5 percent last year, slower than the forecast growth of 5.5 percent.

The strategic policy paper prepared by Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) aims to meet the growing demand by generating hydroelectricty and reduce the dependence on firewood and fossil fuels. It has envisioned that by 2030 dependence onfirewood will be reduced by 33 percent. Kathmandu, Thursday, Xinhua