Kathmandu, December 24
The Italian contractor assigned to construct a key tunnel of the Melamchi Drinking Water Supply project has decided to complete the work, seven days after it said it was pulling out of the project.
The company, CMC, has, however, demanded that its Italian staffers be allowed to go on leave until the New Year and the government inject ‘some more cash’ into the project. Italian embassy officials in Kathmandu vouch for their claim.
“CMC has written to us saying that the staffers will come back and continue the work. But it is up to us to decide as they have already sent us a letter of termination,” a source at the Ministry of Water Supply and Sanitation told Onlinekhabar referring to the letter sent by CMC to the ministry on December 17.
But, even before submitting the letter, seven CMC workers were found to be preparing to leave the country. They were caught by Nepal police in Thamel and handed over to the government. Their passports were confiscated and handed over to the officials at the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. After an intervention from the Italian embassy, all workers were released.
CMC’s latest decision comes as Nepal’s government decided to seize Rs 2 billion deposited by the company as a performance bond after it submitted its termination letter. CMC then moved the court challenging the decision. CMC has hired senior lawyer Shambu Thapa and his team whereas the government has hired former Attorney General Raman Shrestha.
According to a source at the ministry, the Italian embassy has agreed to guarantee the workers’ return after the New Year. As per the project, the work of building head works and audit tunnel gate, installing sensor camera and finishing concrete lining along nearly 700 metres of the Melamchi tunnel remains to be completed. “The project is cash-strapped, they haven’t paid their workers for months. They are demanding an additional Rs 390 million to finish the job,” a source said.
Ministry officials not fully confident
Even though the embassy has guaranteed the return of the CMC employees, ministry officials are skeptical they will come back. This is not the first time that the CMC has missed its deadline. CMC was supposed to finish its work by June, but its deadline was extended till the end of December owing to logistic constraints. With only eight days remaining in December, officials believe that there will be legal hurdles if the company doesn’t come back to complete the work.
“The high court is hearing the case on Friday. But it might be too late. As soon as the deadline is up, CMC will claim the performance bond if we do not claim it. We don’t know if they’ll come back. I feel like this holiday is just an excuse to pull out,” adds an official from the Melamchi Drinking Water Supply Project.
