PM pledges to advance the second phase of Melamchi project

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has vowed to immediately advance the second phase of Melamchi Drinking Water Project and also to bring water from Yangri and Larke rivers.

Talking to the media after an onsite visit on Saturday, the PM made such a commitment saying that Melamchi Drinking Water Project is a national pride project and was initiated to ensure safe drinking water for the people in the Kathmandu Valley.

On the occasion, the PM said that the voices of the local people are also taken into consideration for sharing the water resource from there in the Kathmandu Valley.

Likewise, PM Dahal said the unimagined scale of flooding taken place two years ago caused serious damage to the Project. "None of the sides projected such a disastrous incident," the PM viewed.

Saying that the risk of disaster still looms large there, the PM directed the officials for preparing to seek other options.

On the occasion, PM Dahal thanked the Project's engineers and technicians for their hard work to ensure water supply amid tough times, and announced to allocate additional budget for emergency jobs.

Likewise, Minister for Drinking Water Mahindra Yadav said that a concrete strategy would be developed for the sustainable management of the project.

Minister Yadav shared that a team of technicians from Canada is accessing the overall impacts of the flood and the current situation of the Project.

If things had gone as planned, currently the second phase of the Project would have advanced smoothly to bring water from Yangri and Larke rivers.

But, it all went in vain due to a natural disaster, which caused further delay to the completed Project. As a result of the disaster, the Project could not send water to the supply line in the last monsoon and is still undecided for this monsoon season too.

Against this backdrop, the PM visited the site on Saturday to take stock of the Project and the upcoming steps.

Drinking Water Minister Yadav, Minister for Health and Population Mohan Bahadur Basnet, and Bagnati Province Assembly Members Yubraj Dulal and Saral Sahayatri Poudel also accompanied the PM.

Besides the project site, management of the sediments gathered in the lower and upper belts of the Indrawati River is a big challenge for the advancement of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project.

Likewise, the access road to the site is in a sorry state and the reconstruction job has not progressed as expected.

During the inspection, the PM assured of complete support from the government side to make the project sustainable after listening to the local officials and stakeholders about the possible challenge of the project advancement.

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