- MoE is preparing to lay underground power lines
The government has decided to manage overhead cables hanging perilously from utility poles while constructing and repairing roads in Kathmandu.
The messy wires dangling from poles or left uncared for will be managed on the Tripureshwor-Kalanki stretch within a week. The Ministry of Information and Communications informed that Department of Roads, Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, Nepal Telecommunications Authority, Nepal Electricity Authority, Nepal Telecom, and Internet and cable television distributors will work together to manage or remove cables that are putting passersby and motorists at risk in many places of the city.
The tangled web of overhead cables all over the city have added to visual pollution. A meeting of concerned authorities held in Singha Durbar yesterday also agreed to issue a public notice asking cable television distributors and Internet service providers to remove wires strung on utility poles.
There are tens of thousands of electric and telecommunication poles and street light posts on which the cables have been strung for years. “Concerned companies and service providers will have to manage and tighten low-hanging cables by September. After managing the wires, a tag of the company will be attached to the cable for identification and to hold it accountable as and when the wires droop low to the ground in future,” stated a press release issued by the MoIC.
NEA and NT will terminate their contract with Internet service providers and cable television distributors regarding the permission to use the utility poles for fixing wires if the untidy cables are not managed by September. Similarly, telecom service providers have been directed to follow the suit of NEA to lay cables underground.
The Ministry of Energy is initiating the process of laying underground power lines at Maharajgunj and Ratnapark Power Distribution Centre as a pilot project.
Source : The Himalayan Times.
