Melamchi not possible this fiscal year

Kathmandu, Jan. 10:

It seems that Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) will not be able to deliver water to the houses of the Kathmandu Valley even by the end of this fiscal year 2017/18.

According to the project, water from the Melamchi River will come to the valley only by June, and it will take three to six months to clean the pipelines, which will further delay the delivery of water.

Generally, three to six months are needed to wash, clean and disinfect the entire distribution system. The areas near the water treatment plant will get water earlier while the far flung areas will get it after about five to six months, Tiresh Prasad Khatri, chief of the Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Improvement Project, Project Implementation Directorate (PID), said at a meeting with the contractors at the Ministry of Water Supply and Sanitation at Singha Durbar on Wednesday.

If Melamchi water is delivered in Kathmandu by June, the households at the corners of the valley will get it only by the end of 2018.

Khatri said that the contractor of the tunnel construction, CMC – Cooperativa Muratori e Cementisti di Ravenna – could complete the works by April this year.

However, the PID has completed the pipeline laying works at most of the places.

“Only stretches of about 30 km are remaining for pipe laying, but the work has been completed at the major road sections. Only 3.5 km main road is yet to be dug,” said Khatri.

The 3.5 km road includes Tripureshwor-Thapathali, Charkhal-Tangal and New Baneshwor-Old Baneshwor sections.

The PID has also completed the construction of the bulk distribution system at most of the critical sections.

Ramesh Sharma of Sharma and Company, a contractor, said that the pipe laying and blacktopping of the road were hampered due to the cold weather because the work is being carried out during the night and the mercury is hovering at about 2-6 degrees Celsius at night.

The Department of Roads had recently instructed the contractors not to carry out the construction works during night time.

Sharma said that as the pipe laying works along the New Baneshwor to Old Baneshwor and valve construction in the New Baneshwor area were yet to be executed, the traffic would be disturbed in that area for about a month.

Secretary at the MoWSS Gajenra Kumar Thakur directed the contractors and PID to change the planning to expedite the construction works and reduce the pollution caused by the project implementation.

He also asked the PID to conduct a weekly press meet to inform about the progress at the project and report it to the ministry. He pledged budgetary support for the same.

The MWSP has been delayed multiple times, and erstwhile prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda had visited the project site in Sindhupalchowk and directed it to deliver water to the houses in the valley by October 2017.