Tala protocol signed

New Delhi, July 29: India and Bhutan signed a protocol on purchase of power from the Tala Hydroelectric Project, the largest power plant in Bhutan. Through this sale, Bhutan will earn more than Nu.4.00 billion a year.

The tariff of export has been fixed at Rs 1.80 per unit and will be increased every five years by 10 percent until the loan of about Rs.17 billion for the project is repaid. Then after, the tariff will increase by five percent every five years.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck on July 28 in New Delhi by the Minister for Trade and Industry, Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba, of Bhutan and Minister for Power, Sushil Kumar Shinde of India.

The agreement valid for 35 years will be signed by the two nodal agencies, the Department of Energy of Bhutan’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the PTC India Ltd in August this year.

The Tala agreement was signed on March 5, 1996, in the presence of King and the then Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.

After the transmission system connecting the Tala power to the Indian grid through four circuits, it will have a substantial impact on industrial growth in India.

Crown prince is in formal week-long India visit along with His Majesty. Bhutan News Service