Kathmandu, January 23
After scrapping the contract with Italian builder, CMC, the government is preparing to assign Nepal Army to complete pending tunnel works of the ambitious Melamchi Water Supply Project.
The Ministry of Water Supply has begun preliminary discussions on hiring a new contractor and the national security force has been considered one of the dependable options, according to an official of the Ministry.
“We have to pay attention to security sensitivity of the tunnel. But, we also have to complete the project at the earliest,” the official says, “The political leadership has begun discussing assigning the army, considering all these aspects.”
Though all Nepali stakeholders may agree on the new proposal, convincing the donor, Asian Development Bank, may be a Herculean task, according to some officials. The donor is in favour of calling for bids again as per the Public Procurement Act in stead of assigning the national security force.
If the government is desperate about assigning the army, it has to be ready to invest its own money, they suggest. However, they fear that it would affect the second phase of the project as the ADB has already expressed its readiness to invest in that as well.
The government is yet to send any concrete proposal to the ADB.
