At a time when almost all development works have come to a standstill due to the ongoing conflict and political instability, a few positive sectors stand out. Experts say hydropower is one such area, having recorded steady growth and withstood many difficulties over the years. But they sound a note of caution: If the political chaos and apathy persists, the sector that has lit so many houses may itself be shrouded in darkness. Water resources expert Ajay Dixit believes the power purchase policy paved the way for recent development of the sector. "Because of the small move, nearly Rs 3.5 million has already been spent in the power sector and another almost two million is being chipped in now." The policy has indeed proven to be a boon for independent power producers. For instance, Nepal Electricity Authority, which controls the national power grid, earns Rs 12 billion and thanks to the power purchase policy, independent power producers get nearly half of that. Slowly the country has also been developing homegrown expertise. To date 12 community groups are buying power at wholesale rates from the national grid and distributing it to local communities. More than 70 other groups are working to do the same. Investors have indeed emerged winners but not so electricity buyers-the people of one of the poorest countries in the world pay perhaps the most expensive power tariff. Why this irony? Experts like Dixit blame it on big hydro projects built with foreign loans. "The small type projects built by Nepali investors cost $1,500 per kilowatt while the likes of Kali Gandaki (144MW) cost $2,500 per kilowatt." Yet high prices are not the immediate challenge for the power sector. The country now has an installed capacity of 600MW, which is increasingly slowly while the annual demand is rising at a rate of around 10 percent. In effect, load shedding appears inevitable. So thinks water expert Santa Bahadur Pun, who once headed the NEA. "If the situation is not tackled urgently, I can foresee that Nepal will have to resort to load shedding in the next two years." That could mean Nepal will be in dire need of big hydropower projects fast. But most such projects are either designed to export power to India or are on the drawing tables of Indian developers. The problem is that the Indian government does not appear to be in a mood for doing business anytime soon given the critical position it has adopted against the February First royal move. Is there no way out? Pun believes we need to do something on our own for the growing Nepali market. Dixit stresses that Nepal's small-scale successes in recent years could help rope in Indian investors. "The creativity that we demonstrated in the last few years can also be replicated in our bilateral dealings with India," he added.