KATHMANDU, March 26: Preparations are underway to open the main gate of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project at Ambathan and inspect the tunnel, which was covered by debris due to flood and landslides that occurred on June 15 and July 30. 

According to Senior Divisional Engineer Padam Bahadur Kunwar of the Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee, the tunnel of the project will be opened and inspected within a day or two. The tunnel is eight kilometers long, of which four kilometers have already been cleaned. 

The work of dewatering is being carried out from the tunnel at the moment. The gate will be opened on Saturday for inspection. According to Kunwar, the work of dewatering has reached 80 percent progress so far. “We will open gate number 34 and gate 17 to clean the tunnel. The work has been estimated to be complete within a week,” he said.  He also said that over 130,000 cubic meters of debris have been removed from the tunnel. 

The flood and landslides which occurred in Melamchi last year caused 20 meters of debris to pile up. Earlier, Minister for Drinking Water Umakant Chaudhary announced to provide Melamchi water to Kathmandu within mid-April. 

The work to remove the debris at Melamchi Drinking Water Project started in mid-January. According to Kunwar, work is being carried out effectively to deliver water to Kathmandu within the stipulated time.  

 
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