Kathmandu. The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation has started coordinating to remove the obstacles in the construction of transmission lines across the country.

On the occasion, Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha took the initiative to remove obstacles surfaced in the construction of the national transmission line in order to complete the construction of the transmission line on time.

The ministry has summoned the heads of 12 transmission line projects under construction on Thursday and held a briefing. The project chiefs had briefed that the forest department had obstructed the felling of trees during the extension of the transmission line and that the road department did not get enough time to shift the poles and towers.

“We have summoned the project chiefs of 12 transmission lines to the ministry to take stock of the situation,” said Anshukiran Shahi, a member of the board of directors of Nepal Electricity Authority. According to him, the project chiefs explained the problems faced by the Forest Department and the Department of Roads and informed that the construction work has gained momentum after the ministry coordinated with other ministries to resolve the problems.

Chief of the Electricity Authority (NEA) Distribution and Customer Service Directorate Nawaraj Ojha informed that the construction works of all 12 projects would be completed within this year.

According to him, the project heads of Tumlingtar-Sitalpati (220 kV), Dhalkebar Banganga (132 kV), Kohalpur-Surkhet-Dailekh (132 kV), Nepalgunj Nanpara (132 kV), Lalbandi Salimpur (132 kV), Inaruwa Biratnagar (132 kV), Hetauda Dhalkebar (400 kV) and Kaligandaki Ridhi (132 kV) presented the progress of the project.

After the contractor failed to complete the work on the Inaruwa-Biratnagar transmission line even after extending the deadline, the entire payment was made to the petty contractor and the work would be completed within three months. It was informed that the problem of 400 KV forest in Hetauda Dhalkebar would be resolved and completed by November.

“The transmission lines will be connected to the main grid in a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of one year. This will solve the problems of tripping in these areas,” said Anil Kumar Adhikari, chief advisor to the Energy Minister.

Minister Shrestha assured the project chiefs that the problems under the inter-ministry would be resolved by coordinating immediately.

Stating that the transmission line is the mainstay of the energy system, he directed the project chiefs to complete the work on time. He requested the government to inform them immediately if there were any problems in course of the construction work and made it clear that the ministry was ready to resolve them.