41 towers under MCC completed in West Nawalparasi

By Bikash Adhikari,West Nawalparasi, May 23: Construction work on the transmission line under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project is progressing rapidly in West Nawalparasi.

Under the MCC Nepal Compact, construction of transmission towers is moving ahead at a fast pace along the 18-kilometre cross-border transmission line stretching from Suryabasti in Sunwal Municipality-13 to the Nepal–India border. 

Out of a total of 53 large and small towers to be constructed, 41 towers have already been completed, while the foundations of six towers are ready. Work on the remaining six towers has yet to begin, according to MCA-Nepal.

India’s TL Limited has been awarded the contract for the transmission line construction.  According to the contract agreement, only two months remain for completion of the project, and MCA-Nepal said that work is being carried out with the aim of completing the transmission line within the deadline.

The substation and transmission line construction was jointly inaugurated on December 6, 2025, by the then Finance Minister Rameshore Prasad Khanal and U.S. Ambassador Dean R. Thompson. The project said that within five months of the commencement of work, compensation distribution had been carried out and tower construction had reached its final stage. 

The compensation distribution for land occupied by the towers has already been completed. Additional land was required in some locations, which has since been acquired by the project, although compensation for those plots is still pending. The compensation distribution for land beneath the transmission lines has also reached around 70 per cent completion. 

Chief District Officer and Compensation Determination Committee Coordinator Dipak Raj Nepal said the compensation distribution process is in its final phase and payments have been directly transferred to the respective beneficiaries’ bank accounts.

The 315-kilometer transmission line, which begins from Lapsiphedi, will pass through the forest area of Bardaghat Ward No. 2 in Nawalparasi and extend from Sunwal-11 through Ramgram and Palhinandan Rural Municipality before connecting India. 

The section within Nawalparasi will be 33 kilometres long. A total of 102 towers will be constructed in Nawalparasi district. Among them, tower construction is currently underway along a 18.2-kilometre stretch from the substation at Suryabasti of Sunwal Municipality to Palhinandan Rural Municipality.

As delays emerged in other sections, construction work in the West Nawalparasi section of the cross-border New Butwal–Gorakhpur transmission line was prioritised and moved forward earlier.

Executive Director of MCA-Nepal Khadga Bahadur Bisht said work is progressing with the target of completing the substation in Sunwal within 39 months and the transmission line connecting to the border within 21 months.