Nepal imposes daily 11-hour power cuts

Nepal produces about half the electricity it needs

The state-run electricity provider in Nepal has announced power cuts of 11 hours a day.

The company blames low water levels in the reservoirs supplying the hydroelectric plants.

Sher Singh Bhat, of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), told the AP news agency the power cuts were likely to lengthen in the coming weeks.

He said a relatively dry monsoon season had left water levels in the reservoirs below the required level.

Increasing demand and a lack of investment in power plants during the decade-long Maoist insurgency in Nepal have also contributed to the problem.

Nepal produces about half the electricity it needs, and the amount of power it imports from neighbouring India is insufficient to make up the shortfall.

During much of spring and summer last year, power cuts in the country reached 16 hours a day.