Govt starts managing messy overhead cables in Valley

Kathmandu, September 3

Minister for Information and Communications Mohan Bahadur Basnet today reached Maitighar and cut overhead cables illegally strung on utility poles.

The minister cut the cables with pincers in a symbolic gesture as part of the drive to manage overhead cables in Kathmandu Valley.

Earlier, the Ministry of Information and Communications, Department of Roads, Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, Nepal Telecommunications Authority, Nepal Electricity Authority, Nepal Telecom, and Internet and cable television distributors had agreed to work together to manage or remove cables that were putting passersby and motorists at risk.

The MoIC informed that untagged and unidentified cables would be cut in all places of the Valley. The tangled web of overhead cables all over the city have added to visual pollution.

The initiative of cutting and confiscating unauthorised cables was taken after concerned organisations failed to act on a public notice issued by the ministry asking cable television distributors and internet service providers to attach their tag on their wires for identification.

There are tens of thousands of electric and telecommunication poles and street light posts on which the cables have been strung for years.

Earlier, NEA and NT were also directed to terminate their contract with internet service providers and cable television distributors regarding the permission to use utility poles for fixing wires if the untidy cables were not managed.

Similarly, telecom service providers have been told to follow the suit of NEA and lay cables underground. The Ministry of Energy is initiating the process of laying underground power lines at Maharajgunj and Ratnapark Power Distribution Centre as a pilot project.

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