Melamchi deadline extended by 6 months

KATHMANDU, JUL 17 -

The construction of the much-talked about Melamchi Drinking Water Project (MDWP) will be delayed by six more months. As per its revised work plan, the project will complete by December 2015.

A meeting between the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Chinese Contractor China Railway 15 Bureau Group (CRGC) and the Ministry of Urban Develo-pment endorsed the revised work plan of the project.

According to ministry officials, CRGC’s Deputy Managing Director, who came from China, expressed commitment to expediting work with additional human resources and equipment.

As per the approved work plan, the contractor should complete 2-km tunnel digging work in three months (August-October).

The government had awarded the tunnel construction contract to CGRC three years ago. It, however, has dug only 5.7 km tunnel so far though it was supposed to complete the entire 27-km tunnel — from the project site at Melamchi to Kathmandu — by mid-July.

MDWP Project Chief Krishna Acharya said the ministry and ADB will monitor the contractor’s work. If it failed to complete task within the three months, the monitoring bodies will ask the contractor to add manpower and equipment, he said. “The contractor has promised to ding 600-715-metre tunnel per month to meet the three-month target,” he said. “At this pace, the contractor will be able to finish tunnel construction and develop railway on the tunnel by December 2015.”

The project was scheduled to complete by 2013. However, the deadline of the project has been revised several times, which increased the project cost as well as verification claims by contractors. The project has been mired in controversy ever since its inception in 2002.

Source: The Kathmandu Post