Discussion on DPR of Nepal-China power transmission line

KATHMANDU: Construction of joint DPR for construction of Nepal-China Ratmate-Kerung 400 kV inter-country power transmission line has been delayed. The second meeting of the Nepal-China Joint Technical Group on Energy (JTG) held in Kathmandu in December last year had decided to form a joint DPR within a year. However, work could not move forward due to Covid-19, which is seen as an epidemic, said Komal Nath Atreya, chief of Rasuwagadhi-Ratmate transmission line project. He said that now China has sent a letter to Nepal to hold the meeting.

“The Chinese side has sent a letter on March 5 proposing to hold a meeting via video conference as the impact of Covid-19 remains,” project chief Atreya told Makalu Khabar, “We at the JTG are preparing to hold a meeting of the Nepali side on Sunday to take a decision on this.”

Earlier, the third meeting of the JTG was decided to be held in Beijing or Tibet, China. There is a provision that the group meeting should be held every 4-4 months.

Earlier, the second meeting of the group held in Kathmandu last December had decided that both Nepal and China would study the transmission lines in their respective areas separately and make a DPR and combine the two DPRs to form a joint DPR.

However, the work has not been able to move forward since the Corona effect began in China in Magh of last year.

Even though the DPR is not working, the project chief Atreya says that Nepal is making decisions regarding the construction of the line. “We have decided to build a 400 kV, 220 kV substation at Bidur-9 in Nuwakot to connect Nepal to the line coming from China,” he said. “The third meeting of the group will now take additional and necessary decisions.”

After the construction of the joint DPR, the two countries have already decided to construct the transmission line on their own territory.

Under the project, Nepal is expected to invest around Rs 10 billion to build a 70-kilometer dual circuit transmission line from Ratmate (Nuwakot) to Kathmandu-Rasuwagadhi. On the Chinese side, 810 kilometers of transmission line will have to be constructed from Lhasa in Tibet to Rasuwagadhi port in Nepal via Kerung.

According to project chief Atreya, there is a plan to build a dual circuit 400 kV line to transmit 5,000 MW of electricity to Nepal. It is possible to exchange 5,000 MW of electricity from this line at the rate of 2,500. The Chinese side is preparing to build the 500 kV transmission line. However, Nepal has been saying that it will build a 400 KV line. A ‘conversion station’ will also have to be built to balance the different capacities of the transmission line in the power transmission.

During Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s visit to China in 2016, an agreement was reached to build a 400 kV transmission line for Nepal-China electricity trade. According to the agreement, discussions and studies are being carried out for the construction of the transmission line, but it is being delayed.