KATHMANDU – “We will coordinate with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) for extension of environment friendly wooden poles,” said Minister for Forest and Environment Shakti Bahadur Basnet on May 4, 2018.
Releasing a situation paper on forest and environment, Minister Basnet said, “A total of 10 million cubic feet timbers have been produced annually. But woods are still imported. We will create an environment so as to replace the exports by imports. The environment friendly wooden poles will be promoted.”
However, the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation has prepared a proposal to replace the policy after the Ministry of Forests and Environment publicized the plan to expand the wooden poles.
Wooden poles have short lifespan as they damage fast and transmit current during rains, increasing risk of human casualties, according to Kul Man Ghising, executive director of NEA. “There are still 200,000 wooden poles in the various places of the country. The wooden and steel poles will be replaced by iron or steel tubular poles,” said Ghising.
Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barsha Man Pun on Sunday discussed with Secretary Anup Kumar Upadhyaya, NEA executive director Ghising, and Narayan Gyawali, president of Community Electricity Users Federation. According to Minister Pun’s press advisor Roshan Khadka, the ministry is preparing a proposal to be tabled in the cabinet for replacing the wooden poles throughout the country.
“Security is the main concern in electrification. We discussed whether to table the proposal in the Cabinet or adopt other alternatives,” said Ghising.
However, Dhananjaya Paudel, spokesperson of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, said that import can be reduced by expanding wooden poles. “Iron poles should be imported from other countries. Our priority is to use native products. It’s not true that wooden poles are fast rotten and have problems in transmitting current with water,” said Paudel.
According to Paudel, wooden poles made from strong timber species such as Sal tree have a life span of 40-50 years. “We have to process the timber by seasoning and chemicals. We can use these poles in certain places as per geographical structure but not in all places,” he said. “We don’t negate the use of iron or steel tubular poles.”
