The work to expand the 132 kV electricity transmission line in Karnali has remained stalled for nearly five and a half years. Various long-standing issues such as disputes over compensation, tower construction and felling of trees have delayed the Kohalpur–Surkhet transmission line expansion for years.

As a result, all districts in Karnali Province have faced problems of low voltage and irregular power supply. In Humla, where the central transmission line has not reached, the district headquarters and nearby villages have been without electricity for six days after a small hydropower project stopped functioning.

In July 2020, an Indian company, RS Infraprojects Pvt Ltd, won the contract to construct the 132 kV transmission line from Kohalpur in Banke to Birendranagar in Surkhet. The company had initially signed a contract worth Rs700 million with a completion deadline of July 2022.

However, the deadline has already been extended four times. Work was halted for nearly two years after locals in Baniyabhar, ward 1 of Baijnath Rural Municipality in Banke, refused to provide land for a high-tension tower.

In the third week of May this year, the government deployed security forces and resumed work after providing compensation at official rates. Of the three towers to be built in Baniyabhar, two have been constructed in about five months, and one is still pending.

“Festivals, protests, and a shortage of workers also delayed tower construction,” said Engineer Ritesh Jaiswal from the 132 kV Transmission Line Project. “We are trying to finish the work as soon as possible, but various issues keep arising.”

According to the project, of the 162 towers required between Kohalpur and Birendranagar, two towers—one in Baniyabhar and another in Subbakuna—remain unfinished.

Engineer Jaiswal said the timeline may be extended further because tree-cutting in the Harre forest area of Bardiya National Park is still pending. Around 200 trees need to be cut across a two-kilometer stretch.

“There was a compensation dispute in Baniyabhar, and tree cutting was halted there,” he explained. “Even the wire-stringing work remains incomplete in some places.”

Out of the 52-kilometre distance from Kohalpur to Surkhet, stringing work is pending in 5 km. Project Chief Ravi Kumar Chaudhary said they are working with the goal of completing the project by the end of December.

A single 33 kV line was extended to the city during King Birendra’s visit to Surkhet in 1988. The same line still supplies electricity in Dailekh, Jajarkot, Jumla, Kalikot, Rukum, and Salyan districts. Mugu and Dolpa were connected to the national transmission line last year.

The Karnali Provincial Office of the Nepal Electricity Authority stated that central transmission lines have been extended to around 150,000 households in Karnali.

Harka Singh KC of Birendranagar-6 said that residents frequently face power outages and low voltage due to delays in expanding the 132 kV line. “We only have the name ‘central line’,” he said. “There’s hardly a day when electricity doesn’t go off 5-6 times an hour.”

He added that repeated power cuts are damaging electrical appliances. No industry on a large scale has been established in the region due to persistent electricity problems, said Padam Shahi, president of the Karnali Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

District headquarters without power for 6 days

In Humla, where the national transmission line has not reached, the district headquarters Simkot and Kharpunath Rural Municipality have been in darkness for six days after a machine at the Hildum Micro Hydropower broke down.

Pema Lama of Simkot said that the outage has created difficulties for household work. According to her, telephone, mobile, and internet services in Simkot are intermittently disrupted due to the power outage. Local shopkeepers are charging Rs100 to charge a mobile phone using generators.

Local businessman Sundar Rokaya said that electronic shops and small domestic industries in the district headquarters have been closed due to the power outage. The electricity problem has disrupted X-ray, video X-ray, and laboratory services at the district hospital, said Senior Auxiliary Nurse Midwife Sarita Bohara.

Project Chief Jitendra Shah stated that it will take another 1-2 days for power supply to resume as repair work on the powerhouse’s machines is underway.

The Nepal Electricity Authority has also begun the Surkhet–Dailekh 132 kV transmission line project even though the Birendranagar line has not yet been completed.

Work on the line from Subbakuna Substation in Surkhet to Chupra in Dailekh began two years ago, but only about 40 percent has been completed.

The 32-kilometre project requires the construction of 102 towers, but work has halted due to the lack of permission for tree-cutting, said Project Chief Chaudhary.

Sigma Construction was awarded the Rs800 million project in July 2023, with completion deadline for July 2025. “About 9,000 trees need to be cut in the Surkhet–Dailekh section. We submitted the proposal to the federal Ministry of Forests and Environment a year ago,” he said. “But since we haven’t received permission yet, only four towers have been completed.”

The construction company has been granted an additional one-year extension due to delays related to tree-cutting.