‘Melamchi dream’ likely to come true in one and half year

Kathmandu / May 23: A hope has been raised that Kathmandu valley folks would be able to use the water distributed by Melamchi drinking water project, the most awaited drinking water project, within one and half years.

While briefing the Environment Conservation Committee of the Legislature-Parliament about the drinking water situation of the country, Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation, Prem Bahadur Singh, said, “Melamchi is now not a dream, and also not an imagination. It is the reality.”

Minister Singh said that the high-grade technology and human resources have been mobilized to accelerate the Melamchi project.

The project had got popularity all of sudden after the then Prime Minister, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, who had taken the leadership of the government after the restoration of the democracy in 1991, told that water from the Melamchi would be brought to Kathmandu to meet the drinking water needs, and that it would be enough to wash roads in the Kathmandu valley.

Out of the 27.5-kilometres tunnel of the project, only 16 kilometres have been constructed. Around 35 metres of tunnel is being constructed daily. The government said that task related to tunnel would be completed within a year if the construction work moves ahead at this pace.

Minister Singh said, “Water could be brought to Kathmandu valley after finishing the remaining task following the completion of the task related to the tunnel. So, Kathmandu folks can use the drinking water within one and half year.”

Officiating Secretary at the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Tej Ram Bhatta said that the government has the target of providing access to 1.2 million people throughout the country to safe drinking water within the next two years.

On the occasion, Parliamentarians—Parashuram Tamang, Kamala Bishwokarma, Chitralekha Yadav, expressed their views in the meeting. RSS