Kathmandu, September 13
Millennium Challenge Account Nepal (MCA-Nepal) has completed the construction of an 18-kilometre transmission line within nine months of its groundbreaking. It is the first major infrastructure project to be completed under the MCC Nepal Compact.
Construction of the transmission line section from the New Butwal Substation under construction in Sunwal Municipality-13 of Nawalparasi (Bardaghat Susta West) to the Nepal-India border was completed on Sunday.
Then Finance Minister Rameshwor Prasad Khanal and then US Ambassador to Nepal Dean R Thompson had laid the foundation stone for the transmission line on Nov. 26, 2025 (Mangsir 10, 2082 BS). “We expedited the construction of this line in view of Nepal’s current needs,” said Khadga Bahadur Bista, executive director of MCA-Nepal.
MCA-Nepal had signed a contract with Indian company Transrail Lighting Limited on Bhadra 8, 2081 BS to construct the transmission line. The contract, worth $12.38 million, stipulated that the project be completed within 21 months.
However, implementation of the project was halted for some time after Donald Trump became US president and the US began reviewing foreign aid, temporarily suspending all foreign assistance.
MCA-Nepal constructed the 18-kilometre section of the Butwal-Gorakhpur transmission line on the Nepal side. With its completion, the Nepal section of the country’s second cross-border transmission line has been completed.
A total of 315 kilometres of 400-kV transmission lines are being constructed with an MCC grant. Contracts have already been signed for the construction of the remaining projects under three additional packages.
In addition, a 400-kV electricity substation and road improvement projects are also being implemented under the MCC Nepal Compact.
