--By TC Correspondent
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide an additional $25 million loan to Nepal to complete the tunnel of the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP).
“Once completed, Melamchi tunnel will be a lifeline for the people of the Kathmandu Valley. The tunnel will not only bring the people of Kathmandu more clean water, but also support other downstream water supply and wastewater projects in the Kathmandu Valley,” said FeiYue, Director of the Urban Development and Water Division in ADB’s South Asia Department.
ADB approved a restructured $137 million loan in February 2008 for the then $317 million MWSP but the completion of the project was delayed by political and economic uncertainties in Nepal, changes to the project design, and, most recently, the need to find a new contractor to complete the tunnel construction.
ADB’s additional funds, along with an extra $13.1 million from the Government of Nepal, means the overall cost is now estimated at $355.4 million.
Under the project, CooperativaMuratori e Cementisti di Ravenna, an Italian construction firm, is contracted to complete the 27.5-kilometer Melamchi tunnel by the end of September 2016. The tunnel will take 170 million liters of water per day from the Melamchi River to Kathmandu.
A water treatment plant, financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, is under construction in Sundarijal on the outskirts of Kathmandu that will treat the water brought through the Melamchi tunnel.
In addition, improvements to the Kathmandu Valley water transmission and distribution network are underway with an $80 million ADB loan, made in 2011, to take water from the treatment plant to households and reduce water lost to leakages. ADB approved another $80 million loan in April 2013 to expand and rehabilitate the sewerage network and build wastewater treatment plants to deal with more than 90 million liters of wastewater per day in the Kathmandu Valley.
As part of the overall Melamchi project, ADB is also promoting reforms in Nepal’s urban water sector including creating an independent water management board, setting up an independent commission to regulate water tariffs, and establishing an autonomous company for water and wastewater service delivery in the Kathmandu Valley.
