Nepal and India agreed to upgrade these low-capacity power lines to boost electricity trading during the 10th joint secretary-level Joint Working Group and the secretary-level Joint Steering Committee held in Jaipur, India on February 17-18.
There has been certain progress in upgrading low-capacity lines. “Construction of a second circuit of 132kV Kataiya-Kusaha cross-border transmission line has already been completed,” said a senior official of NEA. “It should be charged with electricity soon which has not happened yet.” Likewise, Nepal has already completed constructing a second circuit of the 132kV Parwanipur-Raxaul power line. “The Indian side has notified us that they are constructing an inter-connection of the line between Old Raxaul and New Raxaul area as a part of the construction of a second circuit of the cross-border line,” the official said. Particularly, industries based in the Birgunj area are suffering due to power cuts in the winter as Nepal has not been able to buy extra power from Bihar while Nepal cannot transmit additional power brought through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line to the Birgunj area because of poor transmission infrastructure. In the last meeting, both sides agreed to improve the capacity of the Raxaul-Parwanipur power line by May this year. Likewise, Nepal has already built the Nepal section of the proposed 132 kV cross-border line between Mainaiya (Butwal)—New Nautanwa (India). “India has also decided to build part of the proposed power line on their side,” the NEA official said. During the last bilateral meeting in India, they had agreed to complete the new Butwal-Mainahiya power line by September this year. Similarly, Nepal has already issued a tender for constructing a new 132 kV cross-border power line between the Nepalgunj-Nayantara line where a 33 kV line is available, according to the NEA. “The Indian government has also decided to build part of this cross-border line on its territory,” the NEA official said. The capacity of the Nepalgunj-Nantarapower line will also be improved by September this year. The two countries agreed to trade 70MW-80MW through the 132kV Tanakpur-Mahendranagar Cross Border Line. Currently, Nepal has only been importing power through this power line. Except for 400 kV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur, all other transmission lines have been used for trading power exclusively via government-to-government agreements. The NEA official said improvement in these low-capacity power lines would pave the way for more cross-border power trade. “We can also address power supply problems in certain areas of the country due to poor domestic transmission infrastructure,” the official said.
