Kathmandu, 15 Aug. The construction of Bharatpur-Bardaghat 220 kilovolt (KV) double circuit transmission line from Bharatpur in Chitwan to Bardaghat in Nawalparasi (Bardaghat Susta East) has been completed.
The construction of 74 km 220 KV double circuit transmission line has been completed, starting from the new Bharatpur substation in Chitwan’s Bharatpur Metropolitan City-11 Aaptari and ending at Bardaghat substation in Nawalparasi (Bardaghat-Susta West).
The transmission line can transmit electricity up to 1000 megawatts. The 220 KV double circuit transmission line will be commissioned initially at 132 KV. Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority Kulman Ghising said that after the completion of the construction of the transmission line, it will be easier to transmit electricity from Bharatpur to the west.
Managing Director Ghising said, “The construction of the dilapidated project has been completed after continuous efforts due to the obstruction of the locals demanding to change the route of the transmission line, the problem of tree cutting, poor performance of the contractor, etc.”
“There was only 132 kV single circuit currently running for electricity flow from Bharatpur to the west. It was a problem to send more electricity from Bharatpur to the west because the capacity of the said line was not maintained. After the construction of the 220 kV line, it will be easy for more electricity to flow, and the voltage will also improve.”
The 220 kV transmission line from Bardaghat to the new Butwal Substation at Sunwal Municipality-13 Bhumhi in Nawalparasi is under construction. The line is being worked on with the goal of completing it by next month. After that, 220 kV transmission line will be connected from Hetauda to New Butwal Substation.
The length of Bharatpur-Bardaghat transmission line is 74 km. There are 246 towers on the transmission line. A contract was signed with Central China Power Grid International Economic and Trade Company in October 2067 for the construction of the project.
After the performance was not satisfactory, the contract with the said company was canceled in June 2017 and the authority made a new tender to do the remaining work. A contract was signed with the Chinese company Hengton Optics Electric in Aug 2018 to do the remaining work.
In Nawalparasi Binayi Triveni Rural Municipality-2, Dumkibas, some locals filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding a change in the route of the transmission line. The construction of two transmission line towers in that area was stopped after the Supreme Court gave an interim order on 7 April, 2021 according to the demand of the locals. The Supreme Court dismissed the writ on 26 June 2022. Project Chief Project Manager Santosh Sah said that after continuous discussions with the locals on compensation and compensation issues, the construction was started after an agreement was reached in March 2023.
As the transmission line could not be constructed due to the obstruction of Dumkibas, it was not possible to send more electricity from Bharatpur to Bardaghat. The single circuit of transmission line of about 56 km from Bharatpur to Arun Khola in Nawalparasi was put into operation a year ago. The Bharatpur-Bardaghat 220 KV transmission line, which was completed, was tapped into the Arun River and connected to the 132 KV transmission line currently in operation. Bharatpur-Bardaghat 132 KV transmission line was separated at Arun river and connected with Bharatpur-Bardaghat 220 KV line.
The Hetauda-Bharpur-Bardaghat 220 kV transmission line project was started with the investment of Nepal government and authorities and concessional loan from the World Bank to strengthen the capacity of the transmission line and make the integrated electricity system of Nepal reliable. After withdrawing from the World Bank project from October 2078, the rest of the work was carried forward with the investment of the government and the authority.
