By Xinhua,
Kathmandu : Nepali government has requested the Indian government to repair the transmission lines and towers destroyed during the Koshi floods in August 2008, and facilitate the re-import of 60-MW power through that transmission line at the earliest.
According to Thursday’s eKantipur.com report, Minister for Water Resources, Bishnu Prasad Poudel has, in his letter, requested India’s Power Minister Sushil Kumar Sindhe to repair the destroyed transmission line on the border side joining Farbisgunj to Duhabi.
Nepal used to import 60 MW through the 132 KV transmission lines joining Duhabi to Farbisgunj before the Koshi floods in eastern Nepal, some 200 km east of Kathmandu.
Poudel has stated that Nepal will complete the re-construction of destroyed towers in Sunsari district by the end of February.
“Nepal has already started reconstruction of the destroyed transmission towers and has urged the Indian government to reconstruct the destroyed transmission towers falling on their side,” he said.
The minister, in his letter opines that re-construction of destroyed transmission towers on the Indian side to facilitate the import of 60-MW will be a great relief to Nepal.
Without reconstruction of transmission towers on the Indian side, there is no possibility of importing the 60 MW from India, Minister Poudel said in his letter.
According to a source at Ministry of Finance, the minister requested the Indian government after the latter did not take initiative to repair the destroyed transmission towers on their side.
Meanwhile, the Indian government has asked not to reconstruct transmission towers destroyed during the Koshi floods until the Koshi river water is diverted to the original course, the source added.
Nepali government has taken urgent steps to reconstruct the destroyed transmission towers joining Duhabi to Farbisgunj as it is the only 132 KV transmission line in the Nepal-India border.
Through the Koshi-Kattaiya line, Nepal government is planning to import additional 40 MW beside 60 MW from India soon. Nepal is importing 20-MW from Tanakpur, India from January 1, 2009.
Citing significant differences in the demand and supply of power, Nepal Electricity Authority is planning to increase the load shedding hours to 16 hours a day from current 12 hours in a couple of days, according to the report.