Govt against turning Melamchi multipurpose

KATHMANDU, Aug 30: Minister for Energy Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has said that Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) should be developed specifically to solve the acute water shortage in Kathmandu Valley and not as a multipurpose project as suggested by some hydropower experts. He was speaking at the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee Sunday.



Purna Kadaria, secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, told the committee that the project will "never see the light of the day" if the government deviates from its original purpose of the project to making it a multipurpose one. "We must let the project move ahead as planned. We may look at other alternatives for electricity generation in future," Kadaria said.



MWSP, which is under construction, is an inter-basin water supply project which supplies water from snow-fed Melamchi river in Sindhupalchowk district to the Kathmandu Valley. The project is financed by a number of international banks and the total cost is estimated at about half a billion US dollar.



The project is designed to resolve the chronic water shortage in the Kathmandu Valley with the diversion of 170 MLD water from the Melamchi River through a 26-km tunnel, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on August 3.

Related story

Locals threatento obstruct Bheri-Babai works