The construction of Dhalkebar-Inruwa section of Hetauda-Dhalkebar-Inruwa 400 kV transmission line under construction has been completed. This will strengthen and make reliable the power transmission system within the country and to expand the power trade between Nepal and India.

Within a week, Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority has received a good news of completion of the project. As MD Ghising has expressed his commitment for second tenure that his mission will be to expand transmission and to strengthen the distribution system, number of transmission lines have already been completed as distribution centers.

Against all odds, the NEA has successfully completed two important tasks in recent weeks that will have a long-term positive impact on the national economy.

The construction of 154 km 400 kV double circuit transmission line from Dhalkebar in Dhanusha to Inruwa Substation in Bhokraha Narsingh Rural Municipality-4 in Sunsari has been completed. The transmission line can carry about 4,000 megawatts of electricity.

The construction of the 288 km transmission line from Hetauda Substation to Inruwa Substation at Thanabhayang in Hetauda Subdivision-11 of Makwanpur has been divided into two sections.

Hetauda-Dhalkebar 134 km and Dhalkebar-Inaruwa 154 km. Of these, the construction of Dhalkebar-Inaruwa section has been completed. Hetauda-Dhalkebar section is under construction.

MD Ghising, said that the completion of Dhalkebar-Inaruwa section is an important achievement to make the entire transmission system of the country quality and reliable and to increase the volume of power trade between Nepal and India.

Since the transmission infrastructure on our side is not ready, the amount of electricity imported and exported from the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur international transmission line, which is currently operational, is only 800 megawatts. If there is any surplus, it can be exported to India through the Dhalkebar-Inaruwa transmission line," said MD Ghising.

"There was a problem in transmitting power from Dhalkebar to Inaruwa during the winter when the capacity of the existing 132 kV transmission line could not handle the load. The line itself was in a state of failure because it could not handle the load.

417 towers were constructed on the Dhalkebar-Inaruwa section of the transmission line. 11 towers have been constructed in the river to pass the transmission line to Saptakoshi. A 24-32 meter deep pile foundation has been laid for the 5 km transmission line on the Koshi River. One tower has 16 pile foundations.

Two years ago, the construction of the transmission line was complicated when a tower erected by the Koshi River was washed away.

Project Director Shyam Kumar Yadav said that the construction was affected by the corona epidemic, flooding of the Koshi river, obstruction of construction by locals demanding a change in the route of the transmission line, an interim order by the Supreme Court, land use in the forest area, and procedural tangles in getting permission to cut down trees.

Director Yadav mentioned that due to the interim order of the court in the line area of Siraha, the work was stopped for 4 years and the project had to go through three times of Preliminary Environmental Assessment (PEA).

Upon completion, the 400 kV transmission line will be able to send enough power to improve the voltage and power supply of the Morang-Sunsari industrial corridor.

The Inruwa 400 kV substation was completed and commissioned last year. In order to improve the overall power supply to the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor, the process of replacing the old conductor of the Inruwa-Duhvi 132 KV transmission line with high capacity transmission line (HTLS) has already started.

Improvement in Morang-Sunsari

This will increase and almost double the current capacity of the line, which can carry about 200 megawatts of electricity. A 132 kV transmission line from Inaruwa to Barju and a 132 kV substation at Barju are under construction.

From Inaruwa Substation, Inruva-Purnia for power trade with India and Inruwa-Anaramani 400 kV transmission line for trade between Nepal, India and Bangladesh have been proposed. The Korean Export Import (EXIM) Bank is providing concessional loans for the Inaruwa-Anaramani transmission line.

Obstruction in Hetauda

Yadav said that since the construction of the Dhalkebar-Inaruwa section has been completed, all manpower will be mobilized for the construction of the Dhalkebar-Hetauda section. At present, the work of laying the wire of the transmission line from Dhalkebar to Hetauda is going on. So far 45 km of wire has been laid.

Some residents of Hetauda sub-metropolitan wards 15, 16 and 17 Hatia areas have been obstructing the construction for about 7 years, demanding to change the route of the transmission line. Due to this obstruction, 16 towers are yet to be constructed, 14 in Hatia area and 2 in Thanabhayang in Hetauda-11.

Transmission line route

The Hetauda-Dhalkebar-Inaruwa transmission line project passes through the Hill, Shivalik Chure and Terai regions.

The transmission line is located in 10 districts namely Makwanpur, Bara, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahottari, Dhanusha, Siraha, Saptari, Udaipur and Sunsari.

The contract was signed in January 2069 to complete the construction in 30 months. The Hetauda-Dhalkebar-Inaruwa 440 kV transmission line is largely parallel to the existing 132 kV transmission line and the East-West highway.

The right-of-way of the transmission line is 23 ÷ 23 meters to the right and left of the center of the transmission line.

The project will require the clearing of 518 hectares of forest and the acquisition of 30 hectares of private agricultural land. 475 hectares of private land and 171 houses and other structures will be affected in the right of way.

Of this, only about Rs. 5 billion has been spent on right-of-way compensation for the Dhalkebar-Inaruwa section.

The project, which has an estimated cost of US$170 million, was initiated under the Nepal-India Power Transmission and Trade Project with investment from the Nepalese government and authorities and concessional loans from the World Bank.

With the completion of the World Bank loan period, the remaining work is being carried out with the investment of the government and authorities

After the completion of Hetauda-Dhalkebar-Inruwa 400 kV transmission line project, 4000 MW of electricity can be transmitted from Dhalkebar from east to west.

Under the project, the construction of the Dhalkebar-Inaruwa section of the 400 kV transmission line is in the final stage while the Hetauda-Dhalkebar section is under construction.

The construction of the transmission line will not be completed due to the obstruction of the local people in wards 15, 16, 17 and 11 of Hetauda sub-metropolitan city. The construction will be done in places where there are no obstacles.

Kulman Ghising, Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), said that the power will be supplied locally from Hetauda Substation and it will help to make the power supply more reliable and quality in Hetauda, Bharatpur, Simra and Birgunj areas.

MD Ghisingh said, "The power generated by the hydropower projects of the river corridor in the central region of Nepal will be fed into the national transmission grid and the surplus power saved after consumption in the country will be easier to export to India through the Hetauda-Dhalkebar 400 kV transmission line. It will facilitate the flow.

Shukar Devkota, the project manager, said that the Hetauda substation has been built in such a way that it can be expanded in the future as per the requirements.

The 400 kV double circuit transmission line to be constructed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) from Ratmate in Nuwakot will be connected to the Hetauda substation. Devkota, the project manager, mentioned that the necessary infrastructure has been constructed at the Hetauda substation.

Hetauda, Dhalkebar Inruwa 400 kV has been constructed under the National Electricity Development Decade Program with the joint investment of the government and NEA. All three substations under the project have been completed. In December 2018, a contract agreement was signed for the construction of the Hetauda 400 kV substation.

In December 2018, the contract for the construction of the 220-132-11 kV Hetauda substation was awarded.The Hetauda substation was constructed by the Nepal India Electricity Transmission and Trade Project with the investment of the government and the authority and a concessional loan from the World Bank. The estimated cost of the 400, 220 and 132 kV Hetauda substations is three billion rupees.

Construction has been affected by the global spread of the corona epidemic and the restrictions imposed to control and prevent it. Due to the corona epidemic, the various equipment and technicians to connect the substation reached the project site at the scheduled time and there were some delays in the construction of the project due to other reasons.