3 years ago
A technical fault has been found in the tunnel of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project. A committee formed to study the accident under the coordination of Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Drinking Water, Ramakanta Dawadi has concluded that the accident took place because the gate which should have been inside was placed outside.
The committee has also stated that there had been no technical 'design review' in recent times. The committee has also suggested reviewing all the four gates in the tunnel. The nut bolt on the gate was also found not to be tightened properly.
When the gate of the tunnel was opened two weeks ago at the project construction site at Helambu Gaonpalika-1, Sindhupalchok, the water stored there for a week had come out.
Consultant Dorje Pemba and engineer Shekhar Khanal were injured in the accident. Engineer Satish Gohit and driver Radhakrishna Thapa Magar went missing due to the accident. Among them, engineer Gohit was found dead the day after the incident while driver Thapa Magar is still missing.
It takes about 15 days to fill the water for the tunnel test however the water came out within a week. The accident took place on Asar 30.
Ministry spokesperson Ritesh Kumar Shakya said that both the consulting company and the company constructing the gate were responsible for the accident. According to him, Itas was the consultant while the Indian company PIL built the gate.
The company was hired by CMC, an Italian company that had previously worked on the project. Although the CMC's contract with the Government of Nepal was canceled, the same company had completed the remaining work of gate construction.
The committee has suggested that the frame of the gate should be kept new. "Only after that improvement can water be sent to the tunnel," he said.
The ministry said it would take another two months to rectify the defects in the tunnel.
During this period, the construction company is working on the 'headbox'. According to the agreement with the Chinese construction company Sino Hydro, the construction period of the 'headbox' has still three months left.
The government had earlier started diverting water from the temporary dam. If the 'headbox' is completed and the error is corrected, water will be diverted from it.
Other construction works have not been stopped even after the accident in Melamchi tunnel. He said that the work of construction of necessary infrastructure and necessary managerial preparation for water distribution has been started.
A tunnel, headbox and two water treatment plants have been constructed under the project. Two tanks have been constructed in Sundarijal to treat 170 million liters of water daily.
The capacity of both the processing centers here is 85 million liters. One of them was constructed with the financial assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the other with the financial assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Construction work on the project was underway even during the shutdown. The government had decided to carry out the construction work of this project and Tamakoshi Hydropower Project, a project of national pride, which is nearing completion.
Due to the lockdown, some of the workers who returned home could not come and it was difficult to bring construction materials. The construction company is constructing with the available manpower and materials.
The project was running smoothly even when the locals and locals were demanding to close the project saying that there was a risk of Covid-19.
This project is one of the projects of national pride that has not been completed for a long time. It has been two decades since the institutional initiative to bring Melamchi water to Kathmandu to solve the drinking water problem in the Kathmandu Valley.
The Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee was formed in 2056 BS. The project was contracted by the Asian Development Bank in 2001.
The Italian company which had moved forward in a timely manner went bankrupt financially and had quit the work.
After months of confusion, a contract was signed with Chinese construction company SinoHydro to complete the rest of the construction work.
The Ministry of Drinking Water had repeatedly committed to release Melamchi water in the Kathmandu Valley by Asar. However, this accident has pushed that time.
