CHITWAN, Oct 13: The Bharatpur Metropolitan City has provided electricity services to 460 customers through an underground power distribution system. The system has been managed under the Underground Electrification Project.
Now, NEA clients at the bypass road, an area from Sahid Chowk to Pulchowk, and in front of Chitwan Medical College have access to electricity supplies via the underground distribution system.
According to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Pokhara-Bharatpur Distribution System Project's Chief Engineer Ananda Subedi, work on installing the underground electricity infrastructure is underway.
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He said that under the underground electrification project, line connection work remains for only three out of the 18 feeders.
It is required to connect lines to 1,240 clients' homes within Bharatpur Metropolitan City as part of the underground electrification initiative. According to Subedi, so far the project reports 95 percent of progress. The total project implementation cost is Rs 140 million. Initially, a budget of Rs 130 million was allocated for the project followed by an additional allocation of one million.
The construction contract of the project supported by the Asian Development Bank was awarded to India's Tata Projects Limited in 2021. The first deadline of the contract ended on January 20, 2024 and since then the contract was expanded time and again.