The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has set a deadline for the completion of the Chilime-Trishuli 220 kV transmission line and substations. The project is under construction to transmit electricity from hydropower projects on the Trishuli river and its tributaries to the national electricity system.

On Saturday and Sunday, a high-level NEA team including Managing Director Kulman Ghising and Deputy Managing Director of Transmission Directorate Dilghayukumar Shrestha visited substations and transmission lines under construction to monitor the progress of the project. After discussions with the project management, consultants, and the contractor company, the team set a deadline of December 2023 for the completion of the project.

The team instructed the contractor to speed up the work by adding more workers and to complete all the remaining works on schedule. The team will also regularly monitor the construction progress.

NEA Managing Director Kulman Ghising said that the project is important for managing the electricity demand of this year’s winter. He urged the contractor to take the deadline seriously and to complete the remaining works on time.

The project has been affected by a number of factors, including the difficult terrain, the COVID-19 pandemic, and land use problems in forest areas. However, the contractor has made some progress in recent months and has promised to complete the project by January 2024.

The construction of the civil structure to house the equipment of both substations is in the final stage. The main equipment such as power transformer and GIS has been brought to the project site. On the other hand, all equipment including towers and conductors of the transmission line have been supplied to the construction site.

The foundations of 56 of the 76 towers in the total 28 km transmission line have been laid. The foundation of the rest of the tower is being laid. 48 towers have been erected. 10 km of wire has been stretched. Wire pulling work is going on in the erected towers. The overall construction progress of the project is 90 percent.

Under the Chilime-Trishuli 3B hub transmission line, the Chilime-Mailung section will be constructed of 20 km double circuit and 8 km four (multi) circuit up to Mailung-Trishuli 3B hub. Under the leadership of Korean companies, a multi-circuit line is going to be made to connect the power of the 216 MW Upper Trishuli-1 hydroelectric project. Upper Trishuli-1 will bear 60 percent of the cost of constructing the multi-circuit line.

A contract was signed with Pinggao in October 2017 for the construction of transmission lines and substations. The contract agreement was implemented in January 2018. The estimated cost of the project is 30.9 million US dollars, and there are investments from the Nepalese government and authorities and concessional loans from the German Development Bank and the European Investment Bank.