Completed Projects

PEI conducted a perception survey on the Belt and Road Initiative in Nepal. A total of 800 surveys along with Key Informant Interviews and Focused Group Discussions were conducted in Rasuwa and Nuwakot. The Asia Foundation, China, commissioned a perception survey around infrastructure projects with Chinese engagement, highlighting, among other things, the impact of the projects on the local economy, society, culture, and the environment and providing a glimpse into the perception held by the local communities of the Chinese entities.

This project attempts to address the increasing vulnerability of women, children, and the elderly to water-induced disasters. It does so by undertaking applied research on the drivers of WID and develop an understanding of the nature of vulnerabilities of the at-risk population; developing, prioritizing, and implementing pilot interventions through a multi-stage participatory planning approach with local communities; collaborating with sub-national bodies to develop scalable strategies against water-induced disasters, and building the capacity of local communities, government agencies, and local academic institutions to prepare for and respond during any water-related natural calamity.

PEI provided consulting services for data collection and other necessary support in Nepal for JICA, under the JICA Project “Information Collection and verification survey on strengthening power connectivity in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal in the South Asian Region”. PEI conducted energy policy reviews, reviewed the laws and regulations regarding power trade between Nepal and India.

The status report is a policy review conducted after the completion of the first research on sand mining on the Mahakali and Teesta rivers. Based on post-ante analysis of the existing policies on sand mining, PEI recommends policy interventions for sustainable mining practices.

The project supports the promotion of renewable energy in Nepal with a focus on finding sustainable financing mechanisms and overcoming the contextual challenges such as the devolution of authority to the newly established provincial and local governments. PEI is responsible for conducting necessary political economy analyses, which includes examining the status of implementation of federalism and identifying the challenges to the execution of the project in order to adopt a Market-led approach to access renewable energy and offer off-grid electricity and clean cooking solutions. Whereas, the underlying objective of the project is to transition Nepal’s renewable energy sector from a subsidy to a market-based model. PEI’s political economy analysis examines how the interests and incentives are structured in the sector, including that of the private sector, and how these have resulted in strong resistance to reform.

This study, funded by the World Bank/International Finance Corporation, investigates the existing narratives of the electricity market in Nepal to provide a realistic scenario for both demand and supply scenario for the next decade. This investigation was divided into four parts: i)demand-supply scenario analysis, ii)analysis of the availability of finance for hydropower/energy development from commercial banks and FDI in Nepal, iii)project delays and cost overruns of both public and private hydropower projects, and iv)the impact of the regulatory regime on cross-border electricity trade. PEI led the last two chapters for which it carried out extensive research on the exact project status and tentative commercial operation date of major energy projects. Along with it, PEI also undertook a sector level investment analysis in generation, transmission, and distribution. Similarly, with regards to power trade, PEI attempted to provide answers to Indian markets evaluation of hydropower, the pricing of energy, the modality of power purchase and the responsible institutions required with specific roles and responsibilities for the trade to occur.

This project examines the past water treaties between Nepal and India. The research places a particular focus on analyzing the political context and the capacity of the Nepali interlocutors in negotiating the deal, given Nepal’s claim of having been short-ended in all the negotiations. Based on the analysis, the research collaborators from Nepal and India also explore the possible agenda for future rounds of the Nepal-India water negotiations.

This project supports the Government of Nepal’s Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) to prepare, through an extensive participatory planning approach and a direct engagement with the riverine communities, a basin development strategy for the Kamala river basin. This exercise is also intended to build the capacity of the officials at WECS who are in the process of building a nationwide basin development plan for all of the rivers in the country.

This report is part of the Transboundary Rivers of South Asia (TROSA, 2017-2021) – a regional water governance programme supporting poverty reduction initiatives in the river basins of Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Salween. The research was conducted on the Mahakali river in Nepal and Teesta river in India, firstly, reviewing the existing knowledge base on sand and gravel mining in the selected South Asian river basins. Secondly, it mapped the existing policy instruments governing sand extraction, marketing and trade, in addition to mapping out the sectors and industries which use the sand from these rivers. And finally, based on the findings, PEI has recommended the best possible ways to engage with the policy makers and the private sector in order to promote sustainable and responsible sand mining practice.   The programme is implemented by Oxfam and partners in Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar and funded by the Government of Sweden. Views expressed in this publication are those of the author/s and do not represent that of Oxfam or the Government of Sweden.

A Government of Nepal commissioned a study intending to provide the Government of Nepal with sufficient background material and to flag the relevant issues its interlocutors should keep in mind during negotiations with their Indian counterparts.

This study looks at the issue of water governance in Nepal in the context of the political transition and the administrative restructuring of the state. It explores how the various constituencies of water, at the national and sub-national levels as well as at the local community level, perceive critical issues around the management of water. The objective of the study is to inform policymakers about the potential scenarios in the governance of the country’s water resource and flag any possibility of conflicts during the implementation of federalism in Nepal.

This study investigates factors driving policy change in Nepal. Building on the case studies of 18 policy reforms of the recent past, it uses the Qualitative Comparative Analysis method, to explore the conditions (factors) and combinations of conditions (pathways) associated with successfully and not (yet) successfully implemented policy reforms.

The objective of the assignment was to research and to advise JICA on six key themes: Nepal-India Electricity Trade; Reforms in the Nepal Electricity Authority; Establishment of the Electricity Regulatory Commission; Issues of Forest Clearance and Right-of-Way in Building Transmissions Lines; Electricity Act; and the Impact of Federalism in the Electricity Sector. This was in JICA’s preparation to participate in the development of the 410 MW Nalsing Gad Reservoir Project.

This research investigates the existing narratives of the electricity market in Nepal to provide a critically examined realistic scenario for the demand and supply scenario of electricity in Nepal up to 2030. The study specifically examines the government’s demand forecast, the availability of domestic financing and the barriers for foreign investments, the underlying reasons behind project delays and cost overruns, and the possibilities of accessing the electricity market in India and Bangladesh.

The study critically analyzes the practice of local shares in Nepal, i.e., the opportunity offered to project-affected communities to invest in the equity of hydropower projects being built within their locality. It recognizes that local shares evolved within a unique political context of Nepal, and given the inherent risk of investing in a capital market, the state needs to identify certain mechanisms to safeguard these local investors.

The study was undertaken to support the Office of the Investment Board of Nepal as part of their longitudinal study on the use of cash compensation to the projected affected families of the 900 MW Arun-3 hydropower project. PEI developed the survey questionnaire and undertook a survey of a sample population to assess the use of cash, one year after the compensation was given. The data gathered was analyzed and submitted to the Investment Board with recommendations for future hydropower projects in the country.

This project attempts to empirically analyze the practices of road construction in Federal Nepal. The practices studied are across five different themes, namely: Electoral representation, Democratic participation, Federalization and Financing, Technical vs Political Decision Making, and Accountability. During the study period, the team studied road construction processes in Gosainkunda Rural Municipality, Godawari Municipality, and Jeetpur-Simara Sub-Metropolitan City. The team interacted with several stakeholders including, but not limited to, the Mayors and Deputy Mayors, Ward Chairman and member, Chairman and member of Users’ Committee, and Daily Users of the roads. The final report of the study presents the three case studies of the aforementioned local bodies, followed by the subsequent takeaways and recommendations.