A delegation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Manila arrived in Kathmandu Wednesday to discuss the extension of the loan period and the restructuring of the long-stalled Malamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) project.

The ADB delegation will start negotiation with the officials at the Ministry of Physical Planning Ministry from Thursday.

Responding positively to physical planning minister Hisila Yami’s letter, ADB, the main creditor of Melamchi, had decided last month to send a team for negotiation.

Earlier, ADB had said it was impossible to continue with its assistance in the multi-billion rupees Melamchi project after minister Yami’s decision not to award the Valley water management contract to UK’s Severn Trent company citing its bad track record.

As soon as the ominous announcement came, minister Yami wrote a letter to ADB headquarters assuring to hire technical experts, preferably Nepali or non-resident Nepalis (NRN), for about two years ‘interim period’ required to hire a new contractor through fresh bidding.

The letter was clearly aimed at convincing the ADB to reconsider its decision to pull out of Melamchi, which is deemed as the only solution to the deepening water crisis in the Valley.

The bank wants private manager for the Valley’s water distribution and had openly thrown its weight behind Severn Trent when the ministry terminated its contract claiming that it was a ‘tainted’ company.

The Melamchi project is designed to pump 170 million liters a day (MLD) to the Kathmandu valley. The current supply of drinking water stands at 90 MLD while the demand has shot up to 240 MLD.