It has assured to provide the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) a grant assistance of approximately US$ 25 million to develop Marshyangdi-Kathmandu 220 Kv transmission line project that is around 60 km in length.[break]
Ram Chandra Pandey, director of Transmission and System Operation at NEA told Republica, "The Danish ambassador has assured to provide US$ 25 million to fund the Marshyangdi-Kathmandu transmission line project." He added that NEA has already submitted the feasibility study report on the project to the Danish government through the embassy.
Following the completion of the project, export-oriented projects like Upper Marshyangdi (600 MW) and other hydro projects along the Marshyangdi river basin will be able to evacuate power. "Power evacuated through the Marshyangdi-Kathmandu transmission line will be connected to the national grid at Naubise," Pandey said.
Although expansion of transmission lines is as important as generating electricity, Nepal has not been able to do so owing to the budget crunch. Currently, the country has only 1980 km of transmission lines. Presently, Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank and Indian government are the only supporting agencies providing foreign investment to develop transmission lines.
Pandey opined that transmission planning needs proper visualization and that without adequate transmission lines power evacuation from the export-oriented projects, which are ready to enter into construction phases to produce about 3,200 MW of electricity, will be a far cry. "How will big projects like Arun III (400 MW) and Upper Tamakoshi (456 MW) evacuate power if we don´t expand the transmission lines?" he questioned.
NEA plans to construct about 3,280 km of transmission lines within the next few years in light of several hydro projects, with installed capacities to generate about 5000 MW of electricity, are about to enter the construction phase. However, the budget allocation for expanding the transmisson lines by the government is not even enough to match the fund provided by the donors. The government has to allocate at least 20 percent of the project´s total estimated cost as a matching fund. "The government has allocated only Rs 400 million this year for transmission line projects and this is inadequate," said Pandey.
In a bid to trade power with India, NEA is developing 400 Kv cross-border transmission lines - Mujaffarpur-Dhalkebar (130 km) and Duhabi-Hetauda-Butwal (300 km). NEA has plans to call tender bid in March this year for the construction of these two projects, Pandey said.
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