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| Kathmandu, Saturday January 25, 2003 Magh 11, 2059. |
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Govt plans licensing ground
water
By Kiran Chapagain
KATHMANDU, Jan 24:The cost of drinking water
from the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP), after it is completed in 2008, will be
significantly higher than other sources of water in the Valley, notably from groundwater
wells. Therefore to keep up the demand for Melamchi water, the government has prepared a
draft for new regulations, that makes it mandatory to obtain licence to extract ground
water in the valley.
"The draft of Underground Water Act has
been prepared," a highly placed source at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works
told The Kathmandu Post.
The draft has been prepared in view of
possible increase in the use of ground water, once the steep priced Melamchi waters start
flowing. Officials fear that the high cost of Melamchi water may induce increasing number
of consumers in the Valley to opt for cheaper ground water.
The project seeks to impose a levy of Rs 12
per thousand litres of water. This is double the amount charged for a similar amount of
water, currently being supplied by the Nepal Drinking Water Supply Corporation.
"The licence holder will have to pay
royalty per annum to extract water," the official said. Wells, tube-wells and
pump-sets will have to pay charges. He also added that the charges will be fixed after the
new plans get green signal.
More than 10 million litres of groundwater is
being extracted in the Kathmandu Valley daily, the official added. It is learnt that most
of the hotels in the valley use ground water. The valley’s ground water tables can
provide 50-60 million litres of water daily, say the officials. The ground water is also
used for household purposes in the three districts of the valley.
The extraction of ground water is rampant,
since the Valley needs 170 million litres of water daily, but is only being provided 100
million.
The government’s step to levy charges on
ground water extraction will meet one of the loan covenants of the Melamchi water project.
The government is required to monitor ground water extraction, by levying charges under
the MWSP loan covenants, according to Madan S. Shrestha, Deputy Executive Director of
MWSP.
Meanwhile, more than seventy five per cent of
the construction of the Main Access Road, linking the site of the water project from
Sundarijal has been completed, said Raj Kumar Malla, Executive Director of the MWSP, today
at a press meet.
He also informed that the construction of
remaining part will soon begin. The construction was slated to be completed by the end of
2002 but was affected due to security reasons. Malla added that work on the road has
resumed following improvement of the security situation.
The work of distributing compensation for the
land procured for the project has also been completed, Malla added.
He also revealed that the construction of the
26-kilometre tunnel, which will link the project site to Sundarijal, has been deferred by
a year, due to the government’s delay in handing over the drinking water management
to the private sector, another loan covenant of the project.
"The work on the tunnel will begin only
in 2004," Malla said.
The government has not set up Kathmandu
Valley Water Authority, which will be responsible for the supply of drinking water in the
valley, as stipulated by the loan covenants of the project. This has also affected the
progress of the project, Mall said.
"Security in the Melamchi Valley is a
serious problem for the smooth functioning of the project," Malla added.
Asian Development Bank, Japan Bank of
International Co-operation, Norwegian donor agency NORAD, Canadian donor agency SIDA,
Nordic Development Fund and OPEC Fund have supported the 464 US dollar project.
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