Melamchi still ‘five years away’; locked project offices opened

July 25, 2006
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The Melamchi Drinking Water Project (MDWP), which is touted as the only long-term solution to the thirsty population of Kathmandu Valley, could at least take five years to complete even if works at the mega project go unhindered.

Talking to Nepalnews, deputy executive director of Melamchi Water Supply Development Board, Khum Bahadur Subedi, said the 26-km long diversion tunnel on which works are yet to start will take up to five years while source of the estimated budget for the tunnel- around Rs 5 billion – is yet to be identified.

Head office of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project in Kathmandu. (File photo)
Subedi, however, claimed that the ambitious drinking water project would come into operation by the end of 2011. “There is no doubt that the project will speed up once certain hitches are cleared. The Board is confident and committed to complete the project at the earliest and solve the drinking water crisis in Kathmandu Valley,” he said.

The demand of drinking water for around 30 million Valley denizens is around 200 million liters per day while the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) is able to supply not more than 100 million liters a day. All hopes remain pinned on Melamchi project that will pump a minimum of 170 MLD water at the initial stage.

The deputy executive director claimed that the Board was confident that Asian Development Bank (ADB), one of the main partners in the Melamchi, would continue funding in the project notwithstanding the recent statement of the ADB country representative, Dr Hafiz Rahman, that time had come to reconsider the whole project.

“If the authorities fail to pave way for smoother implementation of the project, all that I can say is that the project could come under high risk,” Rahman warned while speaking at a press meet on Friday.

According to Subedi, the Board is in constant touch with the donors including Norway and Sweden that had cancelled their assistance worth US$230 million in the wake of prolonged stagnation in the project when the now-defunct Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) was ‘investigating’ into corruption scandals in the project.

Melamchi River, Sindhupalchowk.
(File photo)
“We are confident that the ADB and other donors will continue the funding,” he said claiming that the response of the donors has so far been positive.

The total estimated cost of the project is US$464 million but due to frequent disruptions, costs have soared drastically.

Meanwhile, the locked site offices of the project in Sindhupalchowk district have opened. Officials at the MDWP head office in Kathmandu said works would fully resume within days.

Some 20 officials including consultants had returned to Kathmandu as local residents padlocked half a dozen MDWP offices in Sindhupalchowk on July 17, placing 10-point demand including guarantee of employment to youths in affected areas, blacktopping of roads and other development facilities in the affected areas.

The locals have agreed to allow works at the project after the formation of a 19-member ad-hoc committee that will study the demands, officials informed. They said some of the demands did not fall under the Board’s authority but efforts were underway to address as many demands as possible.

The MDWP has said that compensation for 2,325 plots of land out of the total 7,764 plots covered by the project has been provided to the locals. Parts of 26 VDCs have been listed as project-affected areas, according to the Public Relation Department of the MWDP.