The 17th meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Technical Team (JTT) has begun. According to Sandeep Dev, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, the meeting started in Pokhara on Monday.

According to Joint Secretary Dev, the meeting will discuss the progress so far on the under-construction Butwal–Gorakhpur cross-border transmission line, which is planned to be operational from May 2026. The main agenda, Dev - who is also the spokesperson for the ministry - said, is to decide how the transmission line will be charged once its construction is completed.

Similarly, the ministry stated that discussions will also be held regarding the progress and implementation of the 220 kV Chamelia (Nepal)–Jaljibi (India) transmission line. Of the total 45 kilometers of this line, 44.5 km lies within Nepali territory, while only 500 meters fall within India. In the Nepal–India energy secretary-level meeting held in 2024–25, both sides had agreed to complete the study of the transmission line and bring it into operation by 2027.

According to Dev, the agenda also includes reassessing the capacity of the Dhalkebar–Muzaffarpur 400 kV transmission line. “We will review the Dhalkebar–Muzaffarpur cross-border transmission line again in the meeting,” he said. “At present, the capacity of this line has been set at 1,100 megawatts.”

The meeting will also discuss the Nijgadh–Motihari 400 kV and Lamahi–Lucknow–Kohalpur 400 kV transmission lines. “We will discuss what types of transmission lines can be built in the future,” he said.

Kantipur