National
Get a move on: PM tells Melamchi staff
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has directed the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) to carry out the construction works without worrying about financial constraints.Anup Ojha
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has directed the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) to carry out the construction works without worrying about financial constraints.
PM Deuba, who inspected the project site at Helambu in Sindhupalchok on Wednesday, instructed the MWSP officials to speed up the works, noting that the project that started in 2001 should not take this long to complete.
The prime minister had reached Helambu for inspection a day after the MWSP works resumed after a week-long halt over a payment dispute.
“The government is ready to provide any kind of assistance to the project. You just make sure the project is completed at the earliest,” PM Deuba told the MWSP officials present at the site, including Executive Director Ram Chandra Devkota.
Devkota assured the prime minister that they will accomplish the project completion target this time.
“The people of Kathmandu Valley will get to drink the water from Melamchi by December,” he said.
According to him, the project works were delayed mainly because of unforeseen obstacles, including the 2015 earthquake, shortage of construction materials in the wake of the border blockade enforced by India and the problems at places like Ambathan, Gyaldhum and Sindhu while digging the tunnel.
“The works have been expedited and there are 1,000 workers at our disposal at the moment,” Devkota said, adding that only 2.19km section of the 27.58km tunnel remains to be built.