INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
SINDHUPALCHOWK, MARCH 16Minister of Water Supply Umakanta Chaudhary instructed all
agencies concerned to work in such a manner that Melamchi Project's water could be supplied to Kathmandu valley by mid-April.
Indian embassy inaugurates drinking water supply project
grant to improve water supply
Minister Chaudhary,
who reached Ambathan, the source of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project via Sundarijal tunnel today, pledged additional technical assistance
and human resources for the project, if required.
Chaudhary instructed the Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee
and contractor company Sinohydro to meet the government's target of supplying Melamchi's water to Kathmandu valley by mid- April.Minister
Chaudhary was accompanied by Helambu Rural Municipality ward Chair Nima Gyalzen Sherpa and Executive Director of Melamchi Drinking Water
Development Committee Basudev Poudel, among others.During inspection, the minister assured that the government was ready to make pending
payments on time, but there should not be any delay in the project work under any pretext.With regard to delay in payment to the contractor
company, he clarified that the government had been paying the contractor regularly in USD as per the agreement and that payment in USD was a
little time consuming process
According to him, the Ministry of Water Supply, Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee and stakeholder government agencies were
positive about the demands of affected locals and flood survivors.He expressed his satisfaction over the pace of the project work.Similarly,
senior divisional engineer Padam Bahadur Kunwar shared that removal of gangrene piled up at Ambathan would take a bit longer time as
sediment had amassed in a huge quantity.Removal of the deposit of materials and landslide debris has so far achieved 70 per cent
progress.According to him, they are working to ensure the re-distribution of Melamchi water to Kathmandu valley by mid-April.A version of
this article appears in the print on March 17, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com