Builders of the Kohalpur-Surkhet transmission line are taking time out after reaching Banke and Bardiya national parks as officials huddle to ponder their next move.

The two national parks in western Nepal have asked the Nepal Electricity Authority to provide land elsewhere to replace the trees that will be cut down inside the nature preserve to erect the electric towers.

According to officials, 162 pylons have to be built to install the 132 kV transmission line between Kohalpur and Surkhet. Of them, 74 towers will lie inside Banke and Bardiya national parks.

Officials say 95 percent of the project area extending 86 km from Kohalpur to Surkhet is forest. As per the state-owned power utility, 43 hectares is required for the construction of the poles inside the national parks, and 13,054 trees have to be felled.

The project area passes through Birendranagar, Bheri Ganga and Lekbesi municipalities in Surkhet, and Kohalpur Municipality and Baijnath Rural Municipality in Banke.

Lakshman Kandel, president of the Surkhet Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said large factories cannot operate in Karnali for lack of high-voltage power. "Local residents of Karnali also do not get regular power supply," he said.

The province relies on a 33 kV transmission line installed in 1988 for electricity, and the high capacity line will improve distribution and ensure regular supply.

Devraj Niraula, secretary of the provincial Ministry of Water Resources and Energy Development, said the national parks were blocking the extension of the transmission line.

A Rs600 million contract for the construction of the transmission line was awarded two years ago, and the completion date was extended for another nine months in August, officials said.

Indian construction company RS Infraprojects is the contractor for the transmission line project. Niraula said the company would conduct the project's design, construction and testing.

So far, the company has only completed the foundation work to erect 50 poles. "Even though the deadline has been extended several times, not even 20 percent of the work has been completed," said Niraula.

“As the national parks have asked for private land to replace what will be taken over by the power line, the Nepal Electricity Authority published a notice on September 22 appealing to landowners near the protected areas to sell their property,” Niraula said.

He said that locals in Karnali had been suffering from load-shedding for a long time due to the low voltage of the power line.

Electricity connections have been extended to Dailekh, Jajarkot, Jumla, Kalikot, Rukum West and Salli Bazaar in Salyan through Surkhet. The authority has 100,000 electricity users across Karnali.

"Electricity consumption has increased with the increase in population, and the 33-year-old transmission line has become obsolete," said Subarna Thapa, a local of Birendranagar Municipality-6. "Voltage fluctuation has caused damage to machinery."

Raju Chaudhary, chief of the Kohalpur-Surkhet Power Extension Project, said that a 30-day notice has been issued for land acquisition from locals. The privately owned land will be given to the national parks, and the trees on the park land will be chopped down, he said.

"It is difficult to obtain privately owned land. The national parks are also delaying the decision to fell the trees," Chaudhary said. "According to the environmental impact assessment report, the transmission line will occupy 70 hectares of forest land."

Maheshwar Dhakal, director general of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, said that work would not stop if private land is given to the parks as replacement.

"There will be no hindrance from our side if work progresses as per the rules and regulations," he said.

“The cabinet has decided to provide right of way for the transmission line. We are working accordingly. If private lands are provided to us quickly to plant replacement trees, we will allow work to move ahead quickly.”