Kathmandu. The government has paved the way for the construction of Dhalkebar-Hetauda 400 KV transmission line which has been stalled for the past 12 years.

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, has removed the obstruction seen in the Dhalkebar-Hetauda 400 KV transmission line from the cabinet.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Wednesday decided to allow the use of forest land that obstructed the expansion of the transmission line, according to the Ministry.

According to the government spokesperson and Minister for Education Sasmit Pokharel, the government has decided to allow the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to use 2.2 hectares of the national forest managed by the Ratomate Community Forest Users’ Group at Hetauda-15 and the Saraswati Community Forest Users’ Group at Bakaiya-2 in Bakaiya-2 as per the Clause 42 (1) of the Forest Act-2076 on the condition of compliance with the conditions related to the change in the alignment of the Makwanpur section of the Hetauda-Dhalkebar 400 KV power transmission line project. It has been decided to give permission to remove trees/poles.

Minister Shrestha had called Minister for Agriculture, Forest and Environment Gita Chaudhary to the Ministry on Tuesday to discuss the decision. He also discussed the significance of this decision with Prime Minister Balendra Shah.

Prime Minister Shah was also ready to take a decision immediately as it was a matter that would benefit the general public. On the occasion, Minister Shrestha had also interacted with and coordinated with the local people and people’s representatives living along the transmission line route.

Similarly, Acting Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Dirgha Kumar Shrestha said that the construction of Dhalkebar-Hetauda 400 KV transmission line has been completed. “Dhalkebar-Hetauda transmission line is very old. The transmission line up to Inaruwa of Sunsari is around 300 kilometres.

There is a lot of right of way problem in this,” he said. This wire is for pulling. The tree with the ROW (Ride of Way) on top also had to be cut. Because it is a high voltage line of four hundred kV. There is a 46-meter right of way to the right. The trees had to be cut down. The land had to be occupied. There is also forest land there. So it had been stuck for a long time. Now it has been passed by the cabinet. It went very well. It was a breakthrough. As a result, 400 kV line could be connected to Hetauda and our highway was ready. We have a large size highway (transmission line corridor) from Hetauda to Inaruwa via Dhalkebar. Earlier, we had only 132 KV corridor, from Hetauda to the east. Now that it has become a big highway of four hundred kV, it will benefit from the people who used to complain that the tree will be cut down again and again, the system will be secured, safe and robust to a great extent. ‘

According to Acting Executive Director Shrestha, a 220 KV circuit has already been constructed from Hetauda to Butwal. “As a result, the East-West Highway has been strengthened and it has also increased the reliability.

And we can also transport the surplus electricity that is wasted during the rainy season from Dhalkebar to Muzaffarpur 400 kV cross-border line.

The problem of reaching Hetauda and not being able to go east from there will be a strong infrastructure once it is built. The electricity here could go east. The electricity in the east could also be transmitted to the west. It became a highway. Now it was uncomfortable in some places. Now the advantage of this is that we can export more electricity to India. We will come out of these things where there will be robust lines (strong power grid), there will be power outages, the system will be down, the system will collapse, it will take time to restore the system for a long time, people will suffer,” he said.

He said that after the construction of this transmission line, the supply of three thousand MW will be possible. “Now we have to erect the towers. It has to be pulled four. It’s a big highway line. It carries 2503,000 MW. If that wire came up to Hetauda, an industrial revolution could also come on the Dhalkebar side in the east. After the construction of a highway that can provide power to the industries. Industry will flourish. The problem of voltage and the problem of jingling will also be reduced. We were able to bring the electricity to the east where we had more power,” he said.

According to Shrestha, the surplus electricity generated in Kathmandu will be supplied to Hetauda if the hydropower in the Trishuli corridor is not consumed at night. The 132 KV Matatirtha comes to Hetauda via the old circuit via Kulekhani. But there was a problem of not being able to go east from Hetauda. Only 200 MW could go through the small line. More electricity could not be sent to the east. Now, if this line is built, it will be able to reach 2,2500 MW. Once the highway is ready, it will be able to carry as much power as possible.

Acting Executive Director Shrestha said it would take one and a half months to complete the construction of the transmission line. “There will be a maximum of two women. After two months, our system is very stable. We can sell more electricity. Sometimes, we can take the electricity to Butwal in the east. We are also constructing a cross-border line from Butwal to Gorakhpur. It will be done by December. Butwal and Dhalkebar substations are important for us,” he said, adding, “We have not been able to distribute electricity effectively.” It was difficult to manage the excess electricity in the east as it could not be transported to the west, the excess in the west could not be transported to the east, and the transmission corridors were too old to manage even if there was electricity. Due to this, the NEA was unable to trap the system from time to time and provide quality electricity to the people. Now the reliability and more electricity will be transported from one place to another,” he said.

According to Acting Executive Director Shrestha, 16 towers will now be constructed. Two MCAs will be constructed by Nepal and 14 by NEA. The work is expected to be completed within the next two months.