KATHMANDU: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Managing Director Kulman Ghising has stressed the necessity of a 400 kV transmission line to be built under the United States grant assistance Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact.
Talking to media persons in Butwal on Saturday in the course of weighing pros and cons of MCC, Ghising said, “It is up to the government where it manages the funds, but the transmission line is necessary.”
The MCC agreement, signed between the Government of Nepal and the US agency, stipulates that a 300-kilometer double circuit 400 kV transmission line will be constructed in Nepal. Under MCC, transmission line will be constructed Kathmandu’s Lapsifedi to Ratamate in Nuwakot, Ratamate to Hetauda, from Ratamate again to West Damauli, from Damauli to West Butwal and from Butwal to the Indian border.
Ghising said that the transmission line was inevitable for the country. When asked what is the NEA’s view on the transmission line to be constructed under MCC, MD Ghising said, “It is up to the government to decide where the money will come from, but the transmission line is needed.”
He said that NEA is currently carrying out ground work to increase electricity consumption in the country. He informed that NEA is working to increase the use of induction cookers by displacing LP gas and was encouraging use of electric vehicles rather than those needing fuel.
“There are 50 electric charging stations being set up in cities across the country. It will be easier to drive electric vehicles as those stations would be at a distance of 50 to 100 kilometers. Now we have to focus on this,” Ghising said.
He added the substations were being constructed in many parts of the country and they will be completed in five-six months.
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