Kathmandu, 22 August 2023. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has inaugurated the new Bharatpur 220-132 kilovolt (KV) substation. In addition, Prime Minister Prachanda has also inaugurated the Hetauda-Bharatpur-Bardaghat 220 KV double circuit transmission line.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Prachanda inaugurated a substation based on the ‘Gas Insulated Substation (GIS)’ technology built under the Masryangdi Corridor 220 KV transmission line project at Bharatpur Metropolitan City-11 Anptari in Chitwan.
Substation and Hetauda-Bharatpur-Bardaghat 220kV transmission line were constructed with the investment of Nepal Government and Nepal Electricity Authority and concessional loan of European Investment Bank (EIB) and investment of government and authority and concessional loan of World Bank. The cost of the substation is 1.52 billion rupees and the cost of the transmission line is 5.94 billion rupees.
At the inauguration ceremony held at the new Bharatpur substation complex, Prime Minister Prachanda said that the new Bharatpur substation and Hetauda-Bharatpur-Bardaghat transmission line are of strategic importance for east-west electricity supply. Prime Minister Prachanda mentioned that work is being done to improve the standard of living of the citizens by consuming electricity produced in the country and to speed up the development and to enrich the economy by exporting the excess electricity.
“A preliminary agreement has been signed with a neighboring country, India, to trade 10,000 megawatts of electricity in 10 years. We are finalizing it soon. There has been a theoretical agreement between the three countries to bring Nepal’s electricity to Bangladesh,” he said. “I am going to visit another neighboring country, China, soon. Agreements are being made with China regarding transmission lines and electricity trade. This will greatly help the country’s economy.”
The Prime Minister said that the problem of tree felling and land acquisition in the construction of hydropower and transmission line projects will be addressed by amending the existing laws and creating new laws. The Prime Minister mentioned that the 1,200 MW Budhigandaki Reservoir Hydropower Conversion Project and the 10,800 MW Karnali Chisapani Project are going to be formally given to the authority to carry out an updated study.
Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet said that in order to increase electricity consumption and qualitatively improve the supply, the transmission and distribution system is being improved and an international transmission line is being constructed for the export of excess electricity. He mentioned that work has been carried forward with short-term, medium-term and long-term plans for this.
Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Dinesh Kumar Ghimire and Managing Director of the Authority Kulman Ghising said that the construction of this transmission and distribution line will improve the overall electricity supply of the country.
The length of the inaugurated Hetauda-Bharatpur-Bardaghat 220 KV transmission line is about 147 km. The transmission line capable of delivering up to 1000 megawatts of electricity was constructed by dividing it into two sections, Hetauda-Bharatpur and Bharatpur Bardaghat.
One circuit of the 220 KV double circuit transmission line from the old Hetauda substation to the new Bharatpur substation at Chowkitol, Hetauda sub-metropolitan city of Makwanpur has been charged at 132 kV.
Under the second section, the 74 km 220 KV double circuit transmission line starting from New Bharatpur substation and ending at Bardaghat substation of Nawalparasi (Bardaghat-Susta East) has been put into operation at 132 KV.
Strengthening the capacity of the transmission line, the Hetauda-Bharatpur-Bardaghat transmission line has been constructed for the power flow of the hydropower project to be built in the western region to make the integrated power system of Nepal reliable. The project was started with the investment of Nepal government and authorities and concessional loan from the World Bank.
The construction of the project was affected due to local obstacles in the construction of the transmission line, problems in land acquisition, delay in forest area land use and tree felling, poor performance of the contractor company, etc. After withdrawing from the World Bank project in November 2078, the rest of the work was carried forward with the investment of the government and the authority.
A contract was signed in February 2008 for the construction of Hetaunda-Bharatpur section. However, after the work of the transmission line of strategic importance was suspended without work, the authority broke the contract and issued a new tender. In May 2020, a new contract was signed and the rest of the work was done.
A contract was signed in October 2010 for the construction of Bharatpur-Bardaghat transmission line with a length of 74 km. 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 in July 2018 to complete 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 April 7th, 2021 according to the demand of the locals. The Supreme Court dismissed the writ on 22 June 2022. After that, the compensation and compensation issues were continuously discussed with the locals and it was built after reaching an agreement in March 2022.
Under the Marsyangdi Corridor 220 KV transmission line project, a contract agreement was signed in June 2020 for the construction of substations in New Bharatpur and Udipur in Lamjung. Due to the epidemic of covid-19, the substation construction was affected. The Marsyangdi Corridor 220 kV transmission line project has been started for the electricity generated from Marsyangdi and its tributaries to flow into the national transmission system. About 1,600 megawatts of electricity can be transmitted through the transmission line. The length of the double circuit transmission line from Bharatpur in Chitwan to Dharapani in Manang is about 113 km.
The project is being divided into three packages. Under the first package, about 67 km transmission line is being constructed from Udipur to New Bharatpur substation. Under the second package, the construction of new Bharatpur substation has been completed while other substations are under construction. New Bharatpur substation has two power transformers of 160-160 MVA capacity. Under the third package, 46 km transmission line and two substations are being constructed from Khudi to Dharapani. Under this package, substations are under construction at Khudi and Dharapani.
