Residents of Kathmandu have initiated a protest, expressing dissatisfaction with the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee for not supplying water from Melamchi River to Kathmandu Valley.
The committee stopped supplying water from the Melamchi River in June to save temporary structures built to divert water into the tunnel from monsoon floods. In the past year, it would resume supply following the end of monsoon in mid-November.. The supply, however, hasn’t resumed this year.
The Kathmandu Valley Struggle Committee organized a peaceful rally on Monday. It has vowed to intensify protest in the coming days if water supply from Melamchi River does not resume immediately.
Approximately 3.2m residents in the Kathmandu Valley rely on the piped water supply provided by Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Ltd (KUKL). But KUKL has been facing difficulty in managing supplies as it hasn’t received supply from its major source—the Melamchi River.
Govinda Raj Panta, the coordinator of the struggle committee, said that the rally began from Koteshwar and concluded at Minbhawan.
The Kathmandu Valley has been grappling with a chronic shortage of drinking water. The supply is exacerbated during the dry winter months when water flow from its sources reduces significantly.
“In the past years, supply from the Melamchi River would resume by mid-November. It is already the third week of December, but they haven’t resumed supply,” Panta added.
Panta sees no technical reason for stopping water supply from the Melamchi River. “There seems to be a managerial lapse. This is why we initiated the protest to exert pressure on the authorities,” said Panta.
Officials, however, contend that the delay is due to technical challenges. Rajendra Prasad Panta, the spokesperson for the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee, cited October floods in the Melamchi River which damaged the access road to the dam site and a temporary structure facilitating the diversion of Melamchi waters to the tunnel. “Floods have deposited debris in the 210-meter tunnel that links the dam with the main tunnel,” said Spokesperson Panta.
While the access road to the dam site in Ambathan has been reconstructed with the support of the Helambu Rural Municipality, it will take time to clear debris from the tunnel, he added. “Although we requested the main contractor, Sino Hydro, to expedite these efforts, there is a delay.” Spokesperson Panta said that the cabinet must first endorse the variation order submitted by the committee.
As Sino Hydro’s contract with the committee is set to expire in December, the committee has initiated a new bidding process to enlist a new company. “We are currently in the process of evaluating the bids,” stated Spokesperson Panta.
The estimated cost for removing debris from the tunnel and other works is Rs 120m.
Officials of the committee failed to provide a clear timeline for resuming the supply of Melamchi waters to Kathmandu.
ADB for relocating the main dam
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a key financier of the project, has suggested that the dam site be relocated stating that recurrent floods have made the current site unfeasible. In response, the government has opted to undertake an independent study to ascertain whether the dam needs to be relocated as proposed by the ADB.
More than Rs 60bn has been invested in the Melamchi Water Supply Project which was initiated two decades ago. It is designed to supply 170m liters of water from the Melamchi River to the Kathmandu Valley through a 26.5 km long tunnel in the first phase.
The government plans to divert water from the nearby Yangri and Larke rivers by building two more tunnels to increase water supply to the Kathmandu Valley to 510m liters per day in the second phase.
