March 11: The repair and maintenance of the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP), which was damaged by the floods and landslides that occurred on June 15, is 60 percent complete. Padam Bahadur Kunwar, divisional engineer of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board informed that they are preparing to supply water to the Kathmandu Valley by mid-April temporarily.

He said that the Chinese contractor Sino Hydro has already completed 60 percent of the work of clearing off the river debris with the help of the Nepalese Army.

Kunwar informed that the repair work has reached the final stage as only gates 1, 9 and 38 of Melamchi river will be used to supply water to Kathmandu temporarily. As there occurs some technical glitches on hydraulic systems in gate number 38, its maintenance is also underway, he further shared.

The board says that water can be supplied to Kathmandu by mid-April as the clearing of flood and landslide debris at the source of water is in the final stage.    

It has been a decades-long dream of Kathmandu denizens to have access to water being supplied from Melamchi. Right when the dream was about to be fulfilled, it got further postponed due to the damage caused by the floods and landslides on June 15.

The board aims to distribute 170 million liters of water daily in the Kathmandu Valley by next April. However, Kunwar said that the tunnel would have to be shut down for another four months as soon as it starts raining.

He shared that the Asian Development Bank is also carrying out a study on landslide prevention and control in the project site. Stating that 60,000 metric tons of debris has been removed from the tunnel, he said blasting-related task has also come to a final stage.