Er.energyNP@Gmail.com

Humla, a remote mountainous district, is set to be connected to the national electricity grid a year later than scheduled date due to slow progress in construction work.

The district was originally scheduled to be connected to the national transmission grid by the end of the last fiscal year. However, the deadline has been pushed back by a year as the company responsible for the construction has been carrying out the work at a slow pace, said Dhirendra Yadav, chief of the project.

According to Yadav, the project has now been contracted for completion by March 2027. This means Humla will be connected to the national grid about a year later than originally planned.

He said the delay was caused by the contractor’s slow progress and the failure to survey the terrain along the transmission line route. Currently, poles are being erected from Gamgadhi in neighbouring Mugu district towards various parts of Humla.

However, the work is progressing slowly. The onset of the monsoon is expected to cause further delays. Poles can be seen scattered at various locations, and wires will be strung once the pole installation is completed. Similarly, the construction of substations at Adanchuli Rural Municipality and the district headquarters Simkot is also progressing slowly, said Jayapati Rokaya, a member of the House of Representatives from Humla.

Rokaya said delays in these works were also holding back the connection of Humla to the national grid. He said he had been repeatedly coordinating with the Nepal Electricity Authority and the project regarding the issue.

He also raised the issue of the national transmission line construction in Humla at a meeting of the Parliamentary Infrastructure Development Committee on Friday. Consumers in Humla currently face daily power cuts of five to six hours, even during the monsoon season.

The Nepal Electricity Authority had signed an agreement to begin work on connecting Humla to the national grid in March 2024, with the project originally scheduled for completion by March 2025.

After the work was not completed on time, the deadline was extended by one year. Under the extended schedule, the project was expected to be completed by March 2026.

However, the latest extension has pushed the completion deadline to March 2027. The authority has contracted the project to ZNCC, an Afghan company.

By Rajan Rawat