The government is to make a public appeal to citizens as well as public bodies for investment in hydropower projects in the country.

Speaking at a press conference held at the Energy Ministry on Sunday, Minister for Energy Janardan Sharma said there was significant amount of capital inside the country to build hydropower projects. "The people are ready for investment and large amount of cash remains idle in public bodies", he said.

Nepali migrant workers as well as Non-resident Nepalis shall also be encouraged to invest in hydropower development in Nepal. And for this an integrated strategy would be adopted to move ahead, Sharma said. He also said the Ministry was thinking of involving the Nepali Army too in the development of a major project.

Referring to the recent drive of severing the power supply lines of defaulters, Minister Sharma said the act was not a publicity stunt but to come up with concrete results in bringing down the arrears of the NEA, which runs as high as 10 billion rupees. RSS