SINDHUPALCHOK, June 4: Six months have elapsed since the Italian contractor Cooperative Muratori e Cementisti (CMC) di Ravenna has left the project work of Melamchi Drinking Water Project in Melamchi, Sindhupalchowk district but the workers and contractors related this project are yet to receive their payment thereby further enraging them.
They have warned that they would halt the project works until their payment issue was resolved. Issuing a press statement here Tuesday, the disgruntled workers have warned that they would not be responsible if the new contractor who would come to work in the project site faces dire consequences.
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Locals Struggle Committee coordinator Uttam Kumar Shrestha shared that local suppliers and vendors were yet to be paid around Rs 170 million while as many as 700 local workers and contractors had not received any payment for two to seven months.
The Italian contractor CMC which worked in the Project until December 2018 fled leaving the project work in limbo. The Project envisaged supplying as many as 170 million liters of drinking water on a daily basis from Melamchi River to Kathmandu Valley. The irate local workers whose payment is long overdue have warned that they will stall the works if a new contractor would come to the site and begin to work without addressing their demands.
They have expressed their displeasure over the Melamchi Drinking Water Project’s executive director Suryaraj Kandel’s statement on May 31 that they would not be able to pay the dues of local suppliers and vendors. They have demanded either the government or the Project should address their issues relating to the payment.
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