The suggestions were sought as a part of the conducting Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project under which 208 towers will be built. “The suggestions from the stakeholders were sought for the proposed alignment of the project which avoids the national park to a large extent,” said a senior NEA official under the condition of anonymity.
According to the notice issued by the project, only 4.5km of the alignment will fall inside the national park. “Alternative alignment covers as much as 24km of the national park which we deliberately avoided,” the official said. The feasibility study shows that around Rs10 billion would be required to build this project while avoiding the alignment inside the national park. In the notice, feedback has been sought from local government, schools, hospitals, health posts, and other stakeholder institutions and individuals within seven days as part of identifying the study area (scoping) for the EIA. Possible districts to be affected by the project include Rasuwa and Nuwakot, according to the notice. The local governments potentially to be affected by the projects include rural municipalities including Gosaikunda, Amachhodingmo (Parbatikunda) and Uttargaya and Kishpang. Likewise, Bidur Municipality, Tarkeshwar Rural Municipality and Belkotgadi Municipality are likely to be affected, according to the project. According to Komal Nath Atreya, chief of the transmission line project, they will start working on the construction modality of the transmission line after finalizing EIA. NEA Engineering Company, a subsidiary company of NEA, is taking charge of the EIA of the project. Officials said the 70km project which can carry 5,000MW of electricity would open the door for power trade between Nepal and China. Currently, Nepal only has a single outside market i.e., India to sell its electricity and buy from. India has allowed Nepal to sell a maximum 408MW of electricity from eight hydropower projects. Nepal has also been buying power from India during the dry season, particularly after December when domestic power production slumps. The 400 kV transmission line from Ratamate (Nepal) to Kerung (China) will lead to Nepal- China power trading in the years to come, according to NEA. “As India does not buy electricity generated by projects where Chinese investors and contractors are involved, this project will be vital for attracting Chinese investment with the objective of selling power to China,” said the NEA official. “The project has been important even for domestic transmission of power as there are several power projects along the Trishuli corridor.” There is not a single 400KV transmission line for the transmission of power domestically in the country currently. Nepal and China have signed a cooperation agreement regarding the construction of this transmission project which was extended by two years when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Nepal in March this year, according to the NEA. But it is taking time for both sides to carry out additional negotiations between the two sides to develop this project. A Joint Technical Group representing officials of the Nepal Electricity Authority and State Grid Corporation of China held two rounds of talks in China and Nepal regarding the development of the project before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world. The last meeting was held in March 2020 when officials of State Grid Corporation of China visited Nepal before Nepal imposed the first lockdown in March that year. There was a plan to observe the site of an electricity facility including a substation in China’s Kerung. “We were planning to organize the Nepal side to China along with the relaxation of Covid-19 rules in China,” the NEA official said. But the pandemic once again is now spreading in China which will force the Nepali delegation to spend time in Chinese quarantine for days. “We are now planning to request the Chinese side to visit Nepal potentially in February to hold the next round of talks,” the official said.
