Construction works on the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) have resumed after a negotiation between the government and the agitating parties.       

The project’s construction work resumed on Monday after Minister of Water Supply and Sanitation Mahendra Yadav assured various stakeholders that their concerns would be addressed soon, project officials said on Tuesday.

The local construction workers, suppliers and contractors had padlocked the project office for over a week after the main contractor, CMC Cooperativa Muratori e Cementisti di Ravenna from Italy, did not pay them the amount as per the agreement of 2013. 

Executive Director of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board Ram Chandra Devkota said Minister Yadav had requested the protesters not to obstruct the work as it is a national pride project aimed at easing the chronic water shortage in Kathmandu Valley. 

Minister Yadav is holding another meeting on Thursday with CMC Cooperative, sub-contractor and other stakeholders to resolve the issue permanently, Devkota said. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is due to visit the area on Wednesday to take stock of the project’s overall progress.

Out of the total 27.58km of tunnel required to be built from Ambathan, the origin site of the river in Helambu, to Sundarijal in Kathmandu, works on over 23km have already been completed. According to officials, 99 percent work of the water treatment plant in Sundarijal which has the capacity of holding 85 million liters of water is completed now.