Melamchi tunnel construction: Government selects contractor, finally

KATHMANDU, JUN 07 -

The government on Thursday selected Italy’s CMC Cooperativa Muratori e Cementisti di Ravenna as contractor for the construction of a tunnel for the Melamchi Drinking Water Project (MDWP).

Once the firm is approved by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) — one of the major financing partners — it will be formally awarded the contract.

Earlier on May 28, the ADB had shortlisted two bidders for final evaluation — the Italian firm and China’s Sino Hydro Corporation. A total of four firms, including China International Water and Electric Corporation and China Overseas Engineering Group, had been competing for the contract.

The Melamchi Water Supply Development Board (MWSDB) — the project’s implementing agency — had opened the financial proposals of CMC and Sino Hydro last Monday.

“The Italian company quoted some Rs 3 billion less than what Sino Hydro has quoted,” said a high-level official at the MWSDB. He said the Italian firm quoted Rs 7.72 billion, while Sino Hydro proposed Rs 20.91 billion. “However, the Italian firm has to be endorsed by the ADB.”

MWSDB Director General Krishna Prashad Acharya said his office on Thursday dispatched a letter to the ADB, asking the latter to endorse CMC at the earliest. “Once the ADB endorses the firm, we will sign a formal contract,” he said.

The government had floated a fresh tender for Headworks and Diversion Tunnel Construction on December 1, 2012, after the previous contractor abandoned the project midway in September last year. China Railway 15 Bureau Group had initially pulled out of the project which led the government to formally cancel the contract as disagreements over delays and fulfilment of demands came to a head.

Source: The Kathmandu Post