Kathmandu: Shailung Construction, which has been neglecting contracted roads and bridges, has also neglected the Melamchi pipeline expansion and construction of overhead tanks. Shailung had won a contract with Indian company CIPEL in a joint venture to lay 160 kilometers of pipeline and build overhead tanks for the Melamchi drinking water project at a cost of Rs 1.41 billion.

A contract agreement was signed between the Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited Project Implementation Directorate (KUKLPID)and the contractor company in March 2019 to complete the construction within 30 months.

According to the contract agreement, the construction of the pipeline and tank should have been completed by now, but due to the delay by the contractor company, the overall physical progress of the project has been limited to 35 to 40 percent.

Chandra Kumar Pan Shrestha, Deputy Project Director of KUKLPID, said that Shailung/ CIPEL JV has not been able to expand the Melamchi pipeline and construct overhead tanks within the stipulated time. "The pipeline expansion toward Melamchi's Kapan is going on at a slow pace," he said. “The contractor company has been carrying out the construction work in simple locations whereas not much has been done so far in geographically complex areas.”

The contractor company has so far extended 55 km of pipeline and handed it over to the directorate. Out of the 55 kilometers extended road by the contractor company, water testing has been completed in 36 kilometers of the pipeline.

Deputy Project Director Shrestha said that the second extension of the project deadline is August 2022. "The pipeline expansion has not been able to pick up its pace due to poor management of the contractor company," he said. “It’s not that they have not done any work but due to lack of manpower the construction is slowed down.”

The contract was awarded to Shailung / CIPEL JV for bidding the lowest amount as per the Public Procurement Act. The directorate had prepared a cost estimate of Rs 2.5 billion for the project. JV had won the contract at a cost of less than Rs 600 million. According to the directorate, five contractors participated in the bidding.

The directorate has already constructed a new 1,010 km distribution line for the distribution of drinking water from Melamchi. "We have set a target of testing 100 km of water in the pipeline every month," he said. “The testing has been affected due to damage in pipes caused while constructing roads and drainage systems.”

The directorate started testing Melamchi's new pipeline as soon as it started distributing Melamchi water to the people of the valley on April 25. The directorate aims to test the remaining 600 kilometers of pipeline within eight to 10 months if regular water is successfully made available.

Ten water tanks have been prepared in Kathmandu Valley to distribute Melamchi water. Water is being distributed across the valley from these 10 tanks. Nine out of 10 water tanks have come into operation.

The water tank at Katunje in Bhaktapur is being prepared to be operational within a day or two. "Water is being regularly distributed from nine other water tanks," he said.

The Melamchi project has been distributing 170 million liters of water in the Kathmandu Valley in a proportional manner. Currently, taps have been connected to 270,000 households in the Kathmandu Valley, but the target is to distribute Melamchi water to 175,000 households. Lately, the water of Melamchi has been redistributed to the people of the Kathmandu Valley since April 25.