Panchthar, December 6

Undue delay in construction of the Kabeli Corridor — a transmission line for linking the power generated in the eastern hills to the central transmission line — has dismayed hydropower developers, who have wrapped up their construction as well as those in the final phase of construction.

Power produced from the 15MW Hewa A hydropower project is getting wasted owing to delay in completion of the transmission line work from Soyak of Ilam to Amarpur of Panchthar. Though work on other projects including the 22MW Lower Hewa, 25MW Kabeli B-1 and 10MW Lwakhola hydel projects have reached the final leg, power produced from the projects is yet to be linked to the central transmission line. Though work on the corridor had started from fiscal 2009 it could not be completed in time. Eight months after expiry of its second extension, the project is nowhere near completion.

Project Chief Dipendraraj Dwibedi blamed the delay on an Indian contractor entrusted with construction of transmission towers on the Ilam-Panchthar stretch. “As the contractor has been apathetic to constructing transmission towers on the Amarpur-Soyak stretch, the same has caused the delay,” he said.

Indian company Jaguar Overseas and Star JV had won contract for construction of transmission towers.