The Khimti Forum is a global network of like-minded professionals, researchers, engineers, scientists, environmentalists, and economists with a common interest in infrastructure, energy, environment, and economics. Although the Forum was first conceived as a follow up to an existing hydropower project in Nepal, it swiftly transformed itself into a global platform. The forum is run by a team of volunteers.
We host monthly talk programs focusing on Infrastructure, Energy, Environment, and Economics. Through our website, we will also publish blogs relevant to our activities. We welcome all interested professionals and promote inclusiveness and diversity in the Forum. We aim to include discussions on sustainable and economic development of infrastructure and energy projects and their successful operation in developing countries around the world. We would like to highlight not only the planning and execution processes but also all the success and failure stories to seek how challenging situations were handled or could be managed. Education, innovation, and the implementation of World Class Best Practices in emerging areas is our common passion.
The first Zoom meeting of the Khimti Group was held on 16th May 2020 and was mostly attended by engineers and environmental scientists who worked together at the Khimti Hydropower Project in Nepal during the period of 1993-2000. This Zoom meeting was initiated and organized by Kamal Gautam in the form of a reunion of those who worked at the Khimti Project during its construction phase and left the project after it was commissioned in 2000.
The first meeting of the group was set up as a casual online catch-up during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The meeting was attended by fewer than ten persons, but they agreed to meet regularly on the second Saturday of each month. The Group also decided to provide a structure to upcoming gatherings by including a professional talk on a pre-selected topic. Everyone in the group was interested to learn how the Khimti Hydropower Project has performed during the last 20 years. Therefore, the topic of discussion pre-selected for the second Zoom meeting on 13th June was “Operational challenges and success story of the Khimti Project”. It was presented By Ishwar Deshar, who has been a part of the plant operation team since commissioning and who currently serves as the Plant Manager. That was the kick-off of the Khimti Forum talk series.
After a few monthly meetings, the Khimti Group has developed into a network of like-minded professionals regardless of their affiliation, profession, or their current location. The group has rapidly expanded, and the name ‘Khimti Forum’ has been adopted to be more inclusive and welcoming. A majority of the forum visitors, who responded to a survey conducted in November – December 2020 suggested that the Group should continue with the name of Khimti Forum. All along, there was a firm commitment to continue such talks each month, and the Forum volunteers have played pivotal roles by bringing together not only notable speakers, but also by inviting new participants to the program each month. The audience grew by word of mouth spread by those attendees who appreciated the talk program and invited their friends and colleagues. The Forum has been successful in organizing monthly talk programs regularly.
These talk programs were moderated to achieve a depth of discussion into the subject matter and the audience could directly interact with the subject matter experts and ask questions. During the past 10 months, the programs were attended by many working professionals from around the world. Despite the challenge of time differences, an optimum time was mutually agreed, through a survey conducted in November 2020. Most of our attendees who have regularly attended programs are from the USA, Canada, India, Nepal, UK, Norway, Malaysia, Austria, Italy, the Balkans, France, Pakistan, Peru, Switzerland, and Uganda. We are expecting an even wider reach and growing participation in the future.
The feedback from these programs has been very positive and the number of attendees has grown over time. We have new talks scheduled for the coming months. We felt it was time to create a website to further expand our audience, keep copies of the presentations so they can be shared with new members, allow for more interactions between members, facilitate exchanges on topics of current interest, and receive additional feedback. The leadership of the Forum will continue under Kamal Gautam, with the assistance of an Advisory Group and the team of Forum Volunteers.
Welcome to the Forum! Please share your ideas, comments, and recommendations.
