After completion, this project costing NPR 486 crore by the Government of Nepal and the Authority will connect electricity to the national transmission grid.

With only a few days remaining before the contract period expires, the Burtibang–Paudi–Amarai–Tamghas–Sandhikharka–Gorusinge 132 kV double-circuit transmission line project has finally received the order to cut down trees.

Under the project, the Division Forest Office in Gulmi issued the tree-cutting order only on Saturday to remove 942 trees falling within the Gulmi section of the transmission line. Construction of the transmission line had begun in 2019, and the deadline for completion is only until August 13.

For the project, on July 1, 2024, the federal Council of Ministers decided to approve the use of 25.1312 hectares of national forest land in Gulmi, Arghakhanchi, and Baglung, and the removal of 1,748 trees/poles. In line with that decision, an agreement between the Department of Forests and Soil Conservation and the Nepal Electricity Authority was signed on February 2, 2024 . Based on the cabinet’s decision and that agreement, the construction of the transmission line in Arghakhanchi and Baglung was completed on time as permission to remove trees there was obtained in time.

However, Project Chief Manoj Kumar Chaudhary said that work was delayed because the Gulmi Division Forest Office did not issue the tree-cutting order, failing to implement the decision-making process. “The forest office delayed a lot - the Gulmi Division Forest Office alone held it up for 7–8 months,” said Chief Chaudhary. “Because of the forest office, we haven’t been able to do any work for a year, and the project staff have been sitting idle while still drawing their salaries.”

For the project’s Gulmi section, 3.9438 hectares of forest area will be used, and 942 trees will need to be removed from an 18-meter-wide “right of way” spanning 88.44 kilometers. This area falls within public forest land in Resunga Municipality Wards 5 and 6, Musikot Municipality Wards 2 and 3, and Ishma Rural Municipality Ward 3.

Once the project-costing NPR 4.86 billion and funded by the Government of Nepal and the Nepal Electricity Authority-is completed, electricity will be connected to the national transmission grid. This will not only improve the quality of power supply in the region but also reduce technical leakage. To connect to the transmission line, power purchase agreements (PPAs) have been signed in Baglung with seven private-sector hydropower projects for a total of 130 MW of electricity. However, Project Chief Chaudhary said that obstructions to the construction of the transmission line have led to a situation where, on one hand, the public cannot use electricity, and on the other, the produced electricity goes to waste while the Authority has to pay compensation to the contractor. “On one hand, the people have not been able to light their homes; on the other, our electricity is simply going to waste,” he said. “Just last year alone, we had to pay NPR 160 million in compensation to the contractor company.” The project’s six different sections had been contracted out separately to six different companies.

The Authority has complained that while the Division Forest Office issues tree-cutting orders on time for construction projects by the private sector, government bodies themselves neglect to do so for projects of national importance.

Stakeholders say that although political parties here have strongly pushed for certain projects, they have shown little concern for this transmission line. “For the zip line project being built in Resunga, the tree-cutting order was delayed, yet the work was carried out by even transferring the Division Forest Officer. But for the construction of the national transmission line, political parties have shown far less initiative,” said a civic leader from Gulmi.

Of the five substations under the transmission line project, those at Motipur in Kapilvastu, Phudwang in Arghakhanchi, Unaychaur in Gulmi, Paudi Amarai in Gulmi, and Burtibang in Baglung have already been completed. The transmission line work has been finished in the Motipur–Sandhikharka, Sandhikharka–Tamghas, and Baglung sections. In the Gulmi section, while the work of installing 96 towers has been completed, stringing the wires was halted due to the lack of tree-cutting permission. Chaudhary said that although the Authority has not formally extended the project’s deadline, it has given verbal consent to complete it by 1 November.

Source: Kantipur