The committee, headed by Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire, has issued eight-point ´serious´ instructions in the name of various government agencies.[break] They were instructed during a meeting held on Tuesday with half-a-dozen secretaries and two dozen government officials associated with the project.
According to PMO Secretary Lila Mani Poudel, they have directed the agencies concerned to review the project activities, giving it the top priority and clearing all the hurdles.
"We have drawn their attention towards the project and asked them not to consider it as a small project," Paudel told Republica.
The PMO has directed the High-Level Coordination and Direction Committee, which is mandated to oversee the project, and chaired by Minister for Physical Planning and Works, to hold a meeting with the local-level political parties and residents to settle all long-standing disputes and obstacles.
The minister-led committee has not conducted a single meeting for the past eight months.
In its second but crucial instruction, the PMO has asked the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to allow the project and its officials to import and use explosives for project activities.
"Some of the key activities of the project have come to a standstill for long due to the dearth of explosives. The PMO, hereby, instruct the MoD to take all necessary steps forward to import and use such explosives to expedite the activities," states PMO in its instructions.
The project has suffered a major setback due to frequent strikes and obstacles posed by locals from the very beginning. The PMO, in its third-point, has directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) to take necessary steps to seriously curb such untoward activities.
"It has been unveiled that there are a number of instances of damaging physical infrastructures, assaulting and threatening project officials, and creating unfavorable climate for carrying out the work of the project. Such incidents have largely been contributing to the delay of the project. We, therefore, instruct the MoHA to immediately initiate effective measures to overcome such obstacles," reads the instruction.
The PMO, through its fourth-point, has asked the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW) to compulsorily deploy project officials to the project site and document their attendance. Acting on a tip-off, PMO office has collected evidences that suggested thin attendance of the project staff at the site.
"The MoPPW must deploy project officials to the site. It has to monitor whether the officials are on site or not," reads the instruction. The PMO has further directed the project chief to specify the duties and assignments of officials within one week.
Officials at the MoPPW have also been instructed to settle all long- standing disputes with contractors at the earliest possible. "We have asked the MoPPW to settle the dispute with contractor as per existing legal provisions," Paudel said.
The PMO has asked the project officials to identify critical activities of the project and give priority to those based on its severity.
"We have asked the ministry and the project officials to speed-up the project activities without further delay. Even a single day cannot be squandered away," informed Paudel, adding, "We have advised them to first settle the disputes through a ministry-level mechanism and forward the problems to the PMO if disputes couldn´t be settled. The PMO will directly handle the issues and settle disputes through high-level mechanism."
The PMO has also directed the Ministry of Energy not to issue hydro-electricity license to those who use water from three rivers adjoining the Melamchi river. "We have asked them to review the decision if licenses have already been issued," said Paudel.
Finally, the PMO has asked the MoPPW and the project officials to furnish a monthly progress report stating clearly the obstacles and challenges confronting the project.
The Rs 17-billion ADB-funded project is expected to come into full operation by December 2013 and pledges to end Kathmandu valley´s water woes.
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