Water, Water Everywhere

Have you not heard this cliché? It is a famous quote of the marine time sailors of the past. They were surrounded by massive quantities of water but all of it was too salty for human consumption. But, what I am trying to get at here is not the waters of the world but that of Nepal.

Nepal happens to be the second largest in fresh water resources only after Brazil but is incapable of using even a fraction of it for the welfare of the people living in its country.

The result of which, nearly sixteen hours of load-shedding and drinking water problems in the capital city, Kathmandu.

Nepal has the known capacity of generating over eighty thousand megawatts of electricity in the world just simply from renewable sources of its fast flowing rivers but sadly the present generating capacity is a mere less than a thousand megawatt.

Why one might ask is such the state when one with its electricity could become one of the richest countries in the world? This is because of the political state of the country to begin with and the short-sightedness of the political class. And above all corruption.

Most of them think that it will come out of the cry that we are the second richest country in water and electricity is going to be generated by its own accord. The fact is they are expecting others to invest and give them all for free all the while those in power can make hands down.

Keeping the country poor and without industries, makes them go to other countries so that they can send back the dollars to make these politicians live a affluent life style along with their cronies.

The plain logic is this – if you are poor and do not have the capacity to do something yourself, then the person who you expect to help you is actually going to do it for free. They expect to make to profit. So, the people who see a conspiracy behind every investor is only instigate by the politicians as they expect to make money if that company is going to put the capital down.

So this is the primary reason why most of those from out who have the money to invest do not actually want to – you need to grease the pockets of those in high place. This is not out in the open but is obviously a open secret.

If others are allowed to make money from their investment, then it is obvious that the country and the people can money from the surplus amount of energy. Why are industries in Nepal closing down and workers not getting paid their due worth. There is no energy to run these industries. This causes unemployment leading to a wave of people going to other countries.

The politicians care two hoots as long as the money coming can pay the monthly imports as there is not much which is manufactured within the country and plus the people trust the products from their neighbouring countries rather than their own.

Finally, I believe with a bit of acumen and adroitness, Nepal with its water resources could have become one of the riches countries in South East Asia, where it could not rise to the better living standards of its people but be a job market for the rest of the region. So it is just water water everywhere but no brains to make judicious use of it.

Steven William Pitts