Chinese companies bag pie
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KATHMANDU, Feb 19 - The government has selected two Chinese companies for the construction of the tunnel linking the Melamchi river with Sundarijal.
Officials of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project and representatives of the two companies -- China Railway 15 Group Corporation and China CMIC Engineering Corporation -- entered into an agreement for the construction work on Thursday. In a bid to address the perennial shortage of water in the Kathmandu Valley, the government had started work on the project in 1998. But the project has faced a number of obstacles, including disagreements with locals.
As per the agreement, the selected companies will build the tunnel by 2013. The plan is to pump 170 million litres of water from the Melamchi every day into a huge tank in Sundarijal. Water pumped through the tunnel will be supplied to denizens in the valley. The Chinese firms, the lowest bidders, were selected from among 20 companies. With the selection of these firms, the total cost for tunnel construction has come down to around Rs. 4.2 billion, 11 percent less than the estimated cost. The tunnel construction accounts for 27 percent of the project's total construction cost, of which the Asian Development Bank has financed 75 percent.
"The construction will simultaneously start from Ambathan, Gyalthum, Sindhu and Sundarijal," said Gajendra Thakur, executive director of the project. According to him, the entrance road, audit access road and other infrastructure have already been built. In the second phase, the government plans to pump an extra 350,000,000 litres of water per day from the Yangri and Lorke rivers through the same tunnel.
Source: The Kathmandu Post, 20 February 2009
KATHMANDU, Feb 19 - The government has selected two Chinese companies for the construction of the tunnel linking the Melamchi river with Sundarijal.
Officials of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project and representatives of the two companies -- China Railway 15 Group Corporation and China CMIC Engineering Corporation -- entered into an agreement for the construction work on Thursday. In a bid to address the perennial shortage of water in the Kathmandu Valley, the government had started work on the project in 1998. But the project has faced a number of obstacles, including disagreements with locals.
As per the agreement, the selected companies will build the tunnel by 2013. The plan is to pump 170 million litres of water from the Melamchi every day into a huge tank in Sundarijal. Water pumped through the tunnel will be supplied to denizens in the valley. The Chinese firms, the lowest bidders, were selected from among 20 companies. With the selection of these firms, the total cost for tunnel construction has come down to around Rs. 4.2 billion, 11 percent less than the estimated cost. The tunnel construction accounts for 27 percent of the project's total construction cost, of which the Asian Development Bank has financed 75 percent.
"The construction will simultaneously start from Ambathan, Gyalthum, Sindhu and Sundarijal," said Gajendra Thakur, executive director of the project. According to him, the entrance road, audit access road and other infrastructure have already been built. In the second phase, the government plans to pump an extra 350,000,000 litres of water per day from the Yangri and Lorke rivers through the same tunnel.
Source: The Kathmandu Post, 20 February 2009
