Kathmandu, Jan. 28: The Melamchi Water Supply
Project (WSP) is set to go on for yet another year following the departure of
the CMC, Italian contractor of the project.
Headwork construction, tunnel finishing and some
minor tasks, like fitting the ventilation shaft, hydromechanical gates and
monitoring equipment, are yet to be completed.
As per the estimates of the Melamchi Water
Supply Development Board (MWSDB) – the implementing agency of the water
transmission part of the project, it will take about nine months to construct
the headwork, which means it will take about a year to supply the water of the
Melamchi River to Kathmandu households despite about 95 per cent physical
progress of the project.
It will take a couple of weeks to settle the
case with the CMC and probably a couple of months in tendering the remaining
work and the delay in the commencement of the construction of diversion in the
Melamchi River means additional disturbance due to flood in the rainy season.
Three
governments in a row in the past had promised to complete the national pride
project within a year and bring the fresh water in the valley, but the project
continued to lag despite multiple directions from the Water Supply Ministry,
Development Committee of the Parliament and the prime ministers.
The
Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded project commenced in 2002 and was supposed
to be completed in five years.
"CMC suddenly left the work and fled the
country and has not returned to the project or communicated with it though the
latter has issued a public notice warning that the contract would be terminated
if the contractor failed to communicate with the MWSP," Executive Director
of the MWSDB Surya Raj Kandel said at a meeting of the Development and
Technology Committee of the Parliament on Monday.
Although the project consultant Engineer eptisa
BETs JV has recommended contract termination as the contractor has left the
site without any information and the board had issued the 'Notice to Contract
Termination' against the CMC last week, the MWSP has to wait till February 6 because,
as per the existing law, the contractor has 14 days to contact the board if it
wants to continue the project construction.
In case of its return, the contractor will have
the responsibilities back.
"However, the contractor is out of
communication since 15 December 2018. We are not informed about the reasons
behind the contractor's inability to work further though we have been informed
unofficially that the company has filed an insolvency case at a court in
Italy," said Kandel.
He said that the board was making an assessment of
the payments due on the part of the contractor to various companies in the
country. The company hasn't paid more than Rs. 1 billion for the wages of
labourers and contract money to the sub-contractors.
Kandel said that it would cost about Rs. 2.90
billion of which Rs. 1.30 billion would be needed for the construction of headwork
and about Rs. 800 million for tunnel finishing.
The Melamchi Board said that if the regular
procurement process was applied, it would take at least 2 to 3 years to
complete the project, which might damage the completed work.
Another option is to use the existing suppliers
and vendors and bringing water to Kathmandu, creating a diversion and
completing the headwork and other remaining works on a fast-track basis.
Meanwhile, lawmakers suggested the government
should intervene in the project development and the water should be brought to
Kathmandu by the end of the current fiscal year.
The DTC has directed the Ministry of Water
Supply to apply the 'Extraordinary Situation' measures in the Public Procurement
Act and create a plan to complete the project at the earliest if the CMC fails
to communicate with the project by February 6.
It also directed the Prime Minister's Office to
ensure that the work moves smoothly ahead as per the 'Extraordinary Situation'
according to the MoWS new action plan.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 January 2018.
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