Stakeholders concerned have reached an agreement to resume the construction of a transmission line for the 103 MW Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydro Project in Sindhupalchowk district.

Locals of Palanti in wards 3 and 4 of Bahrabise Municipality had been obstructing the work in the 2-kilometre section of the transmission line for the past 14 months, demanding proper compensation among other issues.

Though 13 towers have been constructed for 220 kV single circuit transmission line, the fixing of wires in the 2-km section remains to be completed.

A total of 124 individuals own the land along transmission line’s right of way in the disputed section.

After completion, the 4- kilometre long transmission line would connect the switchyard of the power house of the Madhya Bhotekoshi Project at the Bahrbise Municipality-5 to the Nepal Electricity Authority's Barhabise substation at Ward 3 of the same municipality.

The Chilime Jalvidyut Company Limited, a subsidiary of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) , led the discussion to resolve disagreements.

Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Deepak Khadka, Minister of State Purna Bahadur Tamang, Member of the Federal Parliament from Sindhupalchowk-2 Mohan Bahadur Basnet, ministry’s Joint Secretary Sandeep Kumar Dev,  Managing Director of NEA Kulman Ghising, Chairman of Bahrbise Municipality Balkrishna Basnet and Ward Presidents, Assistant Chief District Officer, Chamber of Commerce and Industry and representatives from the hydropower project participated in the discussion on Wednesday.

Besides starting the remaining work immediately, it has been agreed that the project will provide financial support to Bahrabise City Hospital through the municipality under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), wards 3 and 4 of the Bahrbise Municipality would be included under the project’s affected areas and provided with further assistance in their development works, and landowners along the project’s right of the way would be given proper compensation.

Minister Khadka said that it was important to clear the obstacles in the construction of the transmission line in order to integrate the completed Madhya Bhotekoshi Hydroelectric Project into the national grid

Similarly, MP Basnet claimed that he had taken a huge risk to advance the project in the past and has been supporting the fulfilment of the just demands raised by the locals.

MD of NEA Ghising requested for the completion of the rest of the work and to create an environment to start generating electricity from the project immediately. “Construction of 220/132 KV substation to transmit electricity generated by the project has been completed,” Ghising added.

Earlier, the tunnel of the hydropower project had leaked when water was passed through it for testing. The repair work has been completed, according to the NEA, which aims to bring the project into operation by mid-October this year. 

Meanwhile, a temporary arrangement has been made to add the electricity generated by the project to the national grid.

The electricity transmitted to the Bahrabise substation from the 200 KV transmission line will be reduced to 132 KV at the substation for further transmission.

For this, work is being done to expand the 132 KV transmission line constructed by Shivashree Hydropower, the developer of the 22 MW Upper Chaku A Hydropower Project, to the Bahrbise substation.

Then, electricity of Madhya Bhotekoshi will be integrated into the national grid through the long-distance substation.

The alternative arrangement will be in place until the completion of Khimti-Bahrabise or Bahrabise-Kathmandu transmission lines.