A total of 162 towers have been constructed from Kohalpur to Birendranagar for the extension of the power line. One tower in Subbakuna, Surkhet is 50 meters high and all the other towers are about 30 meters high.
What you should know
The work on the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 kV electricity transmission line has reached its final stage. Preparations are underway to charge electricity at the substation in Subbakuna, Birendranagar Municipality-11, Surkhet within the next week.
Project Chief Ravi Kumar Chaudhary informed that there is a plan to lay the power line from Kohalpur Grid to Surkhet Substation within the next week. He said that the line will be checked after laying the line.
Preparations have been started to charge electricity at the substation as soon as the work of laying the wire in the difficult terrain of Harre section is completed. Patrolling has also been started to ensure that the poles and wires do not touch the branches of trees in the 52-kilometer distance from Kohalpur to Subbakuna.
The work of connecting the jumper towards the Chhinchu-Bheri river bridge of the much-awaited project is underway. Chaudhary said that earlier, while laying the wire using drones, some difficulties were faced due to difficult terrain and thick fog in the Harre area. Since it is a national park area, additional trees have to be cut while laying the wire and the project has to take the cut trees, so the work of laying the wire was done using drones.
A total of 162 towers have been constructed from Kohalpur to Birendranagar for the extension of the power line. One tower in Subbakuna, Surkhet is 50 meters high and all the other towers are about 30 meters high.
The 132 kV project was launched with the aim of replacing the nearly four-decade-old line and supplying high-quality electricity to various districts of Karnali, including Surkhet, and connecting the electricity from the project to be built in the upper region to the national grid through the transmission line.
This transmission line will reach Dailekh, Jumla and Kalikot via Surkhet. In the latest phase, work is also underway on this transmission line from Surkhet to Chupra in Dailekh. Work is underway to construct a substation in Chupra and construct a tower between Surkhet and Chupra.
Indian construction company RS Infra Project, a joint venture of the Government of Nepal and the Nepal Electricity Authority, was given the responsibility of laying the tower construction wires of the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 kV transmission line. 13,000 trees had to be cut to expand the Kohalpur-Surkhet 132 kV transmission line. An agreement of Rs 650 million was signed with the construction company on Asad 22, 2076 to complete the work within two years. The project, which was supposed to be completed by Asad 23, 2078, has been delayed by four years.
Project chief Chaudhary says that the project has been delayed due to delays in the process of cutting trees inside the national park and repeated obstacles from locals. Since most of the land where the project will be built falls within the park, it took more than three years to complete the process and cut more than 13,000 trees as per the rules of the park. There were repeated obstacles from the locals of Baijanath Rural Municipality-1 Gavar and Ward 4 Baniyabhar, Subbakuna, Surkhet regarding land tenure rights. The locals of Baniyabhar had filed a writ petition in the court. After the court ruled in favor of the project, the construction of three towers in this area was finally started.
It is expected that the power supply in Karnali will improve after the transmission line is operational.
37 years ago in 2045, the 33 kV line was first extended from Kohalpur in Banke to Birendranagar in Surkhet. Since the line is in the middle of the forest through small city poles, the line is frequently interrupted when it rains or blows wind. In addition, the voltage is also low. This electricity is causing trouble to the people of Karnali.
