Five months on and KUKL still testing water supply pipeline of Melamchi

Published On: May 16, 2023 08:30 PM NPT By: Himal Lamsal

KUKL loses revenue worth Rs 6 million due to non-proceeding of billing on distribution of Melamchi water

KATHMANDU, May 16: Due to the managerial weakness of Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani (KUKL), the state-owned utility is losing revenue worth millions due to failure in billing at the customers' houses for distributing water from Melamchi through a new pipeline.

The KUKL has been supplying water regularly to more than 60,000 customers in the valley through the new pipeline, but it has been losing millions of rupees in revenue due to non-billing.

KUKL has a provision to collect Rs 100 as water tariff and Rs 50 for sewage from customers who consume 10,000 liters of drinking water per month. Customers who consume more than 10,000 liters of water per month are charged an additional fee.

But the KUKL has been distributing water free-of-cost to more than 60,000 customers in the valley since December 9 in the name of testing the new pipeline.

It has been five and a half months since the testing began and the customers have been enjoying a free supply of water.

KUKL is losing Rs 6 million in revenue from 60,000 customers even at the minimum rate of Rs 100 per month. KUKL has already lost revenue of more than Rs 30 million in five months since the testing began.

KUKL has been distributing water to more than 160,000 customers through the old distribution system. It is collecting regular fees from the old distribution system. Milan Shakya, Chief Executive Officer of KUKL, said that since the new distribution line of Melamchi is still under the testing phase, the collection of water tariff has not been done yet.

"We are supplying water from new taps and new pipelines because it is still in the testing stage, but we have not yet been able to collect the charges from the customers," Shakya said adding that they will start the process of collecting fees by coordinating with the KUKL Project Implementation Directorate.

Tiresh Prasad Khatri, joint secretary at the Ministry of Water Supply and Chairman of the Board of Directors of KUKL, said that the charges will be collected from the new customers after completing the necessary procedures.

“This year, we have given KUKL a target of collecting tax of more than one billion," he said, adding, "There is some managerial deficiency in KUKL. We have requested the management side to monitor the water meter regularly and manage it.”

Joint Secretary Khatri has instructed KUKL to collect the minimum fee set by the government even though it is a service-oriented institution. "KUKL was collecting revenue of Rs 65 million annually by distributing water through the old system," said CEO Shakya.

Despite the addition of water from Melamchi, the annual income of KUKL has only increased by Rs 5 to 100 million.

Although 170 million liters of water comes to the valley from Melamchi daily, 100 million liters of water is being sent to the consumers' homes. The remaining 70 million liters of water is being used for testing the new pipeline of Melamchi.

Melamchi tunnel to be closed from May 19

The Melamchi Water Supply Development Board has decided to close the Melamchi tunnel for 10 days from May 19 for maintenance. As the rainy season is about to start, the construction of additional structures in the headworks area of Melamchi is going to be stopped from May 19 to 29 for maintenance so as not to cause further damage to the project due to possible natural disasters.

KUKL held a press conference on Monday and said that distribution of Melamchi water will be halted for 10 days. "Currently, we have been distributing Melamchi's water in an interval of two days," he said.

KUKL said that the information about the availability of new drinking water will be posted on KUKL's website and Facebook page. KUKL is going to close the tunnel for 10 days for the construction and improvement of the structures including the connection of mechanical parts in the gate number 1 and 9 of the headworks at Ambathan and the Audit tunnel to supply Melamchi water for the full twelve months.