KATHMANDU: The Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee has worked out a plan to find access to the water project site so as to restore damaged structures. The project had suffered significant damages from the June 15 devastating flood in the Melamchi River.

The committee has set a plan to reopen the access road in coordination with the Department of Roads, Nepal Army and the local governments to repair the damaged structures and restore the water supply by mid-April 2022.

The details of losses to the project caused by the floods are yet to be assessed. As the committee said, the loss assessment could not be done as it has not been possible to reach the project site physically.

The project structures have got covered under the flood sediments and the loss could be estimated once they became visible, according to the committee’s Information Officer Rajendra Prasad Panta.

The project headwork remains buried under 10-15 meters of the flood sediments. The time to restore the project could be tentatively estimated once the loss is assessed, it is said. Information Officer Pant said that they were thinking of alternative water diversion as it was not possible to divert water from the headwork immediately. The access route to Ambathan of Healmbu and headwork are said to be affected the most by the floods.

The committee is discussing whether to rebuild the existing access road or find an alternative one and a decision will be taken in consultation with the experts concerned, it is said. (rss)