Communities Call for the Construction of the 220 kV Marsyangdi Corridor to Be Paused

By Shankar Limbu, LAHURNIP, and Siddharth Akali, Accountability Counsel; in The Record

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is funding the construction of a 220 kV high voltage transmission line called the Marsyangdi Corridor as part of the €95 million Nepal Power System Expansion Project. The Marsyangdi Corridor transmission line is slated to pass over the homes, lands, forests, and community spaces of various indigenous and non-indigenous communities in the Lamjung District of Nepal. The Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) & Rights Forum filed a complaint with the EIB’s Complaints Mechanism in October 2018 requesting mediation to help resolve the community’s concerns about the project.

A community-led survey was conducted last year by FPIC & Rights Forum, with support from Accountability Counsel and the Lawyers’ Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP) to gather more information about the local communities affected by the project, and their concerns. The results of the community-led survey is presented in this report and the infographic below. To learn more, read Nepal Record’s latest article here.