KATHMANDU, August 19: The projects under the US funded Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact will be implemented from August 2023. The Executive Director of Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA Nepal), Khadka Bahadur Bista said in a press conference held on Thursday that the construction of the MCC projects will start from August, 2023.
"We have made a work schedule for this project entry to force from the month of August 2023," he said, "Out of the 6 prerequisites of MCC, five conditions have been fulfilled so far. Only one condition remains to be fulfilled, including land acquisition, tree felling and access road to the construction area. We aim to complete this work within one year.”
Executive Director Bista said that out of the 315 km transmission lines, re-survey work is being done on about 28.5 km. “About 200,000 trees will have to be cut under this project,” he said, “Out of the 315 km transmission line, the transmission line will have to be constructed leaving 23 meters on the left and right.”
Nepal receives Rs 477.96 billion in remittances in four months
Executive Director Bista said that Rs 4.77 billion has been spent on the MCC projects so far. MCA Nepal is preparing to open an international level tender process in the period from December to January.
This transmission line will reach Maheshpur in India via Lapsifedi in Kathmandu and Ratmate substation in Nuwakot, Makwanpur, Dhading, Tanahun, Palpa, Chitwan, Nawalparasi. This transmission line project is going to be constructed to carry high voltage i.e. 400 KV electricity.
Mahendra Kumar Shrestha, Procurement Manager of MCA Nepal, claimed that the contract process of the MCC projects will be transparent in nature. "The contract process of MCC will be called according to the FIDIC Yellow Book," he said. "According to Nepal's procurement act, the contractor company that offers the lowest amount is usually selected, but the tender process of MCC is somewhat different," he said, "This tender will be done according to the program procurement guidelines of MCC. In this, rather than accepting the lowest or highest amount, the aspect of the contractor's ability to work or not is specially looked at.”
This tender process will be from 42 days to 180 days. Countries like Iran, Iraq, North Korea and others will not be allowed to compete in the MCC contract process. "In MCC's international tender, any construction business other than government agencies will be able to compete," he said, "even the neighboring country China will be able to compete."
This contract will be awarded under the Build and Design model. Nirmal Khatiwada, chief financial officer of MCA Nepal, said that out of the USD 630 million under the MCC project, 7.46 percent or USD 46.99 million will be spent on the administrative expenses of the project. "An amount equivalent to 12.78 percent of the total will have to be spent for the preparation of the MCC project," he said, "Likewise, 82.4 percent of the amount will have to be spent during the implementation phase of the project."
As much as 3,000 megawatts of electricity can be exchanged from the transmission line under construction. As many as 854 towers will be constructed within the 23-23-meter-wide right-of-way for the transmission line. The height of the tower under this transmission line will be only 43 to 92.5 meters high. Each tower will also have an underground cable.
Under this project, there is also a plan to construct 77 km of roads. An ultra-modern road will be paved on the 77 km road from Dhankhola to Shivakhola in Dang. MCA Nepal has said that the design of the substation and transmission line of the project has been prepared.
