Melamchi drinking water tunnel being tested

Chautara. The much awaited Melamchi drinking water will be tested by filling water in 26 km long tunnel from today. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee have completed all the necessary technical works and are testing the water.

Water will be started by holding a formal program at the project site Melamchi. Spokesperson of the Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee Rajendra Pant informed that the water will be tested by pouring water in the tunnel in the presence of Drinking Water Minister Mani Thapa.

Last Ashad, water was tested in the tunnel, but the main gate (No. 17) of the audit of Ambathan in Helambu Village Municipality-1 burst and flooded the water, flooding an engineer and driver of the project.

After that, a team of four experts under the grant assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the main donor body of the project, re-examined the structures including tunnels, estuaries and gates.

“Experts inspected it, including there important suggestions, and prepared for re-examination,” said Tiresh Khatri, the project’s executive director.

Khatri said that the project has taken special precautions this time to prevent accidents like in the past. The helicopter has been kept in readiness during the test. Rescue plans have been made and coordinated with various hospitals in Kathmandu from Dhulikhel.

According to Khatri, it will take 16 days to fill the 26-and-a-half kilometer tunnel from Melamchi River in Sindhupalchowk to Sundarijal in Kathmandu. He said that water would not be released according to the capacity of the tunnel as it was an early stage.