MWSP will complete on time: VC Bista

December 24, 2005
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Kirti Nidhi Bista (File photo)

Kirti Nidhi Bista (File photo)
At a time the donors are mulling for withdrawal of their support for the $500 million Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP), vice-chairman of the council of ministers Kirti Nidhi Bista on Friday expressed his satisfaction over the progress of the project.

A press release issued today by the Melamchi Water Development Committee after Bista returned from a field visit to Melamchi said he also expressed his confidence that the project would complete on time because of the commitment from donor agencies.

The government has accorded high priority to find a solution to the increasing water scarcity in the capital, the release has quoted vice chairman Bista as saying.

Officials at the MWSP said that the visit by the ministers and government officials to the Melamchi site was an indication of the government’s commitment to complete the mega-project own from its own resource.

“The donors are trying to link the donation with the political situation of the country and now we realise that the government itself is very positive towards completing the project from its own resource,” the Himalayan Times quoted a officer of the MWSP as saying.

The concept of MWSP was conceived as the best option for supplying drinking water to the parching valley in 1988 and in 2000 the Asian Development Bank approved a loan of $120 million for the project.

The government, in 2001, announced that the project would be completed by 2007 but till date, the construction of the tunnel is still waiting to begin.

Major donors stalled their assistance following the arrest of former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the then minister for Physical planning and work Prakash Man Singh and other officials of the project by controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control in connection with irregularities in the project.