Nepal and India have agreed to develop additional high-capacity transmission lines to facilitate cross-border power trade. This agreement aligns with Nepal’s ambitious goal of generating 28,500 megawatts of electricity by 2035.

According to Sandip Kumar Dev, spokesperson and joint secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation, two new transmission lines will be completed by Fiscal Year 2034/35, and the capacity of an existing transmission line will be upgraded.

The two countries agreed to construct the Nijgadh-Harnaiya-Motihari and Kohalpur-Lucknow transmission lines, each with a capacity of 400 kV, during the 29th meeting of the Secretary-Level Joint Steering Committee (JSC) held in India on February 11.

In addition to these new lines, the existing 400 kV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line will be upgraded with a high-capacity conductor. Currently, 800 megawatts of electricity is being transmitted through this line. The meeting also reached a consensus to increase cross-border power trade to 1,000 megawatts, covering both imports and exports.

The talks were attended by Suresh Acharya, Secretary at Nepal’s Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation, and Pankaj Agrawal, Secretary at India’s Ministry of Electricity. Nepal and India had previously agreed to construct two other 400 kV cross-border transmission lines—Inaruwa-Purniya and Dodhara-Bareli—further strengthening the power trade infrastructure between the two countries. -- RSS