Kathmandu Valley to have underground electric cable

KATHMANDU, Feb 24: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has decided to have the underground electric cable in the Kathmandu Valley in a bid to minimize the risk of electric shocks and maintain the urban beauty.

In the first phase of the cable undergrounding project, areas covered by the Majarajgunj Distribution Center and the Ratnapark Distribution Center have been chosen, the NEA said.

Indian company KP Industries Ltd has been selected to undertake the project, which accepted it at the lowest price among companies seeking the tender.

The NEA published the notice about tender results on February 6 and the selected company has been asked to contact the NEA with required documents within the next 28 days of the notice issue.

Overhead cables of electricity, telecommunications and others have spoiled the urban beauty, increasing the risk of incidents and the new project aims to address these problems, according to NEA central and north (Maharajgunj) project chief Abhishek Adhikari. The total cost of the project is over Rs 6.60 billion.

The works need to be completed within the 30 months of project initiation.
During the first phase, the project will be implemented at Bagbazar, Asan, and Durbar Marg area.

Once the first phase project gets completed, around 9,000 clients of both centers will get smart meters which will replace the role of meter readers. Customers themselves will determine the quantity of power they need for use. RSS