September 30: The government has signed an agreement with Chinese company Sinohydro Corporation to complete the remaining works of the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP). As per the agreement, the Chinese company will have to complete the work within a year. The government has decided to give bonus to Sinohydro Corporation if it completes the work before the stipulated time while it will impose a fine if the Chinese company fails to meet the deadline.

Spokesperson of MWSP Rajendra Panta said that the deal worth Rs 850 million was signed on Sunday (September 29) with an understanding to complete the works in two packages.  In the first phase, the company will undertake the finishing of tunnel while the second phase of the project is related to the headworks, for which another deal worth Rs 1.2 billion will be signed soon after the evaluation is completed.

The project informed that the government will roll out bonus three times more the amount decided for the previous contractor CMC di Ravenna, which unilaterally abandoned the project while it was near completion.

Government authorities claim than 95 percent of the works have been completed with only the finishing and headworks of the tunnel remaining.

“If the company completes the project within the deadline, we will provide them 0.15 percent bonus and equal amount of fine if it fails to do so,” said Panta.

The Chinese company will have to complete the diversion tunnels at Ambathan, Gyalthung and Sindhu and also complete the lining and finishing works among others.

Sinohydro Corporation, which has already visited the site for inspection before signing the agreement, will be undertaking the works within two weeks, informed MWSP.

Other eight packages under the project have been awarded to the sub-contractors working for the Italian company CMC di Ravenna, which left the project in last December due to its own financial crisis.