The Alternative Energy Promotion Centre will remain under the purview of the Ministry of Environment, officials said today.
The Cabinet had recently decided to hand over the centre, one of the most resourceful sections of the Ministry of Environment, to the Ministry of Energy.
“We disagreed with the decision. It has been decided that the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre will remain with us,” said Krishna Gyawali, secretary at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, which was formed after the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Environment were recently merged.
“We were opposed to the decision. The ministry is not ready to lose an important department,” added the Secretary.
The centre, which has been running multi-million dollar projects to promote solar, wind and biogas, had caught the eye of the Energy Ministry. However, it was reluctant to work under the ministry as its work was related to climate change and renewable energy, and the Environment Ministry is the focal ministry for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
AEPC was established on November 3, 1996 under then Ministry of Science and Technology. In 2009, the newly formed Ministry of Environment was given charge of the centre.
