Govt seeks 'all party consensus' in Melamchi

Kathmandu, May 16

The government is seeking ‘all-party consensus’ to pay about Rs. 1.53 billion to the sub-contractors and local vendors of the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) in order to move the project ahead smoothly.

The national pride project is in limbo after its Italian contractor CMC left the work in the middle and fled the country some seven months back.

Later, the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board (MWSDB) – implementing agency of the water transmission part of the project – had terminated the contract with the CMC.

Although there were efforts to establish communication with the CMC and persuade it to continue the project, the board and the Ministry of Water Supply (MoWS) failed to make it happen.

The government is feeling the heat after the sub-contractors and local vendors threatened to not to allow any further works unless they are paid, though the liability was not of the government.

“We have considered the ‘all-party consensus’ as the best alternatives to resolving the current crisis in the project,” Dipendra Nath Sharma, Secretary of the MoWS, said at the meeting of Development and Technology Committee (DTC) on Wednesday.

Since it was not the liability of the government, the ministry has shied away from making the decision to pay the money to the sub-contractors and local vendors fearing that it would be financial misappropriation.

Melamchi has become one of the most talked-about and most-problematic projects simultaneously. The thirsty Kathmandu Valley denizens are waiting the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded project for the last two decades which was supposed to be completed in 2007. It has achieved about 90 per cent progress after 17 years of its implementation.

Minister for Water Supply Beena Magar claimed that the ministry had prepared the roadmap to compete the project within a year. However, she couldn’t present any concrete plan.  The DTC directed the ministry to submit concept and plans for the development of the MWSSP.

In February this year, the MWSDB had said that it was preparing for the retendering of the remaining works in the project, including the headwork construction and flooring of the tunnels.

 Although it claimed to complete the necessary preparations within a couple of weeks, there has been no progress in this regard. Headwork construction, tunnel finishing, fitting the ventilation shaft, hydromechanical gates and monitoring equipment are yet to be executed. 

The headwork construction alone takes at least nine months which means if it goes through the regular procurement process, it will take more than a year.

The committee directed the ministry to give Melamchi a topmost priority and resume the construction works at the earliest.

Earlier, participating in the meeting,  lawmakers urged the ministry to set a common standard for water and sanitation projects. They expressed their dissatisfaction over the mismatch of plans and their poor implementation.

Lawmaker Top Bahadur Rayamajhi said that there was no relevancy of the Water Supply Ministry if it did not improve its performance.

Rayamajhi said Ramechhap and Aarghakhanchi districts were facing sever problems of drinking water since long, but the government had no plan to address them.

Anil Jha of Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) demanded that the government should update the reality of the Melamchi Water Supply Project to the lawmakers.

Lawmaker Jip Chhiring Lama asked Water Supply Minister Beena Magar to complete the Melamchi Water Supply Project in time. “The project has become the best example of the project delay in the world, complete the project in time and save the nation's defamation,” he added.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 16 May 2019.