KATHMANDU: It has been almost a year since Minister for Water Supply Pradeep Yadav took charge of the ministry. He has claimed that he has done significant work in the water supply sector in a year, having assumed office on June 13 last year.

“I had promised to supply Melamchi water to the people of Kathmandu before Dashain last year, and accordingly, I have been able to supply it to the Kathmandu Valley through the Sundarijal Processing Center since Asoj 22,” he said.

He said that in the past years, Melamchi water was supplied in Poush and Magh, but after he took charge of the ministry, he was able to bring water on Asoj 22. “For this, I personally went to Melamchi and discussed with the local people’s representatives and the office bearers of the struggle committee, as a result, the Kathmandu Valley has a drinking water supply for twelve months,” he said. According to him, currently, more than 60 million liters of water are being supplied to Kathmandu daily.

He also informed that after conducting a management survey of the Ministry of Water Supply, the project that was temporarily operated under the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage Management has been established as 15 permanent offices, and a public procurement process has been initiated for five packages for the expansion of Melamchi’s drinking water supply outside the Kathmandu Valley’s ring road.

According to Minister Yadav, in the meantime, the Nepal Water Supply Corporation has issued the Regulations on Employee Services, Conditions and Facilities, 2081 BS, and the recruitment process, which had been stalled since 2074 BS, has been resumed.

In addition, under the expansion of international partnerships, a bilateral agreement has been signed with the Government of India for partnership in drinking water and sanitation. He said that an understanding has been reached with the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on core management, technology transfer, research, data exchange, among other issues.

Minister Yadav mentioned that Nepal had presented its long-term financial commitment by participating in the Head of State Initiative Water and Sanitation Financing Program organized in Seville, Spain, some time ago under the auspices of the United Nations.

In addition, an agreement on multilateral use of water has been signed with the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation under inter-ministerial and intergovernmental coordination, and an agreement based on cost sharing in the drinking water and sanitation sector has been signed with the provincial government, informed the Ministry’s Secretary E. Pramila Devi Shakya Bajracharya.

According to Shakya, the expansion of drinking water infrastructure has been carried out through integrated drinking water and sewage management projects in major cities including Jhapa, Birgunj, Pokhara, Bharatpur, Dharan, Butwal, and Kailali.

In addition, drinking water projects damaged by floods and landslides in the last one year have been brought back into operation under climate change and natural disaster management.

Deep borings have been constructed in more than 250 places to solve the drinking water problem in districts including Bara and Parsa due to climate change, and additional deep borings have been constructed in some places.

A comprehensive drinking water project has been implemented with the loan assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at a cost of Rs 4.5 billion to solve the long-term problem of drinking water in Birgunj Metropolitan City. Minister Yadav informed that with this, a feasibility study of the Rapti River Drinking Water Diversion Project has been taken forward for the long-term management of the increasing water crisis and drought in the Terai-Madhes.

Following Minister Yadav’s arrival, long-term infrastructure development for drinking water supply has been initiated in six districts of the Tarai region, including Sarlahi, Rautahat, Mahottari, Dhanusha, Bara and Parsa, in partnership with the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, to ensure sustainable and reliable drinking water service in the Tarai-Madhes region, informed E. Kamal Prasad Shrestha, Joint Secretary and Chief of the Planning Division at the Ministry.

He said, “In the last one year, the Ministry of Drinking Water has made significant strides in terms of policy, diplomacy, and physical infrastructure. Along with strengthening service delivery, a long-term and sustainable system has been built.”

In addition, the procurement process for the construction of a 255 million liter water treatment plant in Sundarijal, Kathmandu has been initiated, while the construction of sewage treatment plants in Sallaghari, Kodku, and Dhobighat has resumed. Drinking water tanks with a capacity of 6 million and 8 million liters have been constructed in Kirtipur and Mahankalchaur, respectively.

In addition, the Drinking Water and Sanitation Regulations, 2081 have been implemented, the Co-Investment Guidelines have been updated, and the public participation fee has been reduced from 30 percent to 15 percent. According to Minister Yadav, construction has moved forward after obtaining budget approval of about Rs 12 billion for various drinking water projects.

“In the last one year, the budget settlement process has been moved forward at a rapid pace, and the capital expenditure of the Drinking Water and Sewerage Management Department has reached 86 percent in the fiscal year 2081/82,” he said.

Under the initiative of Minister Yadav, a new project and a mandatory chlorination unit have been launched as part of a water purification campaign through drinking water consumer organizations, while construction of the Bheri Pumping Project in Karnali Province has begun after the contract agreement, forest land approval, and tree felling permission.

The Ministry has stated that the detailed study of the Sisneri project to increase drinking water supply in the Kathmandu Valley has been completed and the consultant selection process has reached the final stage. In the current fiscal year, the construction of 86 drinking water projects has been completed and brought into operation across the country.

The Project Implementation Directorate (PID) has announced that 1,700 kilometers of new pipelines have been extended in the Kathmandu Valley to improve drinking water supply. According to this, 700 kilometers of pipes have been laid in the Swayambhu, Tahachal, Baluwatar, Mandikhatar and Chabahil areas alone.

Similarly, 20 federal water supply and sewage management projects have been brought into operation in various districts across the country, informed E. Ram Kumar Shrestha, Chief of the Water Supply and Sewerage Management Department. According to him, these projects are in various stages, from the repair of old schemes to the construction of new ones.

Minister Yadav said that the rehabilitation work of 525 drinking water projects across the country affected by the incessant rains in Asoj has been taken forward with priority. The ministry is confident that about 1.5 million citizens will directly benefit from all these projects and remedial works.

The procurement process for the Sundarijal water treatment plant with a daily capacity of 85 million liters has reached its final stage. The process of selecting an international consultant for the relocation of intakes for Melamchi, which was damaged due to past floods, including Yangri and Larke, has moved forward.

In the last one year, the contracting process for the Melamchi Drinking Water Project has been progressed in the areas outside the Kathmandu Valley Ring Road (Kirtipur, Pepsicola, Madhyapur, Thimi, Bhaktapur and Boudha). Minister Yadav said that the 37 million liter capacity wastewater treatment plant at Dhobighat, which was damaged by last year’s floods, is in preparation for testing.

He said that work has begun to ensure easy, accessible and clean drinking water distribution in the Himalayan and hilly districts by ending the situation of having to relocate settlements just for drinking water. Clean drinking water is being supplied to 48,500 people in Pokhara, 45,987 in Biratnagar and 23,743 in Beldangi, Jhapa through the Drinking Water Improvement Project. Similarly, Minister Yadav said that construction work on 14 new drinking water projects has begun in Birgunj.

The ministry says that the construction and testing of the Pokhara Drinking Water Improvement Project was completed during this period with the grant assistance of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).