The uncertainly over the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) may end soon with the main donor Asian Development Bank (ADB) responding positively to the Physical Planning Ministry’s commitment to reforms in Kathmandu Valley’s water distribution system.

The Physical Planning Ministry Thursday said the ADB headquarters had responded positively to minister Hisila Yami’s letter that the government was ready to meet most of the conditions put forth by the Bank including reforms in Kathmandu Valley’s drinking water distribution by involving the private sector.

The ADB is preparing to send a mission to Nepal in the first week of July to discuss the extension of loan duration and the restructuring of the long-stalled Malamchi project, the ministry said.

Yami in her letter to the ADB had also proposed to hire technical experts, preferably Nepali or non-resident Nepalis (NRN), for about two years ‘interim period’ that would take for appointing a new contractor through fresh bidding.

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

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

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