City drinking water project construction delayed

The construction of City Drinking Water and Sanitation Project that entered into the signing of a contract to initiate works in Jayaprithvi-11, Bhojpur since 7 April 2019 has so far made 75 percent progress. As per the contract between the City Drinking Water and Sanitation Project Regional Office, Nepalgunj and Ashish JV Gwanllek Construction Service, the project was supposed to be completed within 18 months which means the project had to be completed on September 2020.

Consultant of JV Construction, Makar Bahadur Swar said the delay was caused with the import of construction materials from India and China as well as the enforcement of prolonged lockdown to suppress the COVID-19 outbreak.

He further shared that the construction are being expedited in a way to distribute drinking water to the community people within Dashain festival, early October.

Committee chairperson Lokendra Bista said 450,000 liters of water would be distributed to people from Chainpur, 50,000 liters to the Bhojpur locality, and 100,000 liters to Dewal Rithapath once the project is completed. As many as 1,165 households of the area would be provided with drinking water facility.

He further shared, “The project construction was also delayed due to flood in the project construction site in Seti River”.

The Asian Development Bank and Government of Nepal have invested 70 percent of the total costs while Urban Development Fund and users shared remaining 30 percent for the project construction. The municipality has also aided Rs 4.5 million as a matching fund. Total estimated project was cost was Rs 229.2 million.