ADB gives four options for fast track route
eKantipur.com, 2-Jun-2007
In order to develop a fast track route to connect the capital with the terai, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has put forward four options to Nepal.
Among these options, suggested by a consultancy team of the bank that visited Nepal recently, are Hetauda tunnel road, Bagmati corridor road, and a road using half section of Bagmati corridor.
“The preliminary estimated cost for fast track through Bagmati corridor is Rs 9.75 billion (US$ 150 million) and Rs 22.75 billion (US$ 350 million) for Hetauda tunnel road,” said Kamal Raj Pandey, joint secretary, at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Construction.
He said the best option will be selected by considering various aspects like environment, pollution, forests, and rivers. "We are currently working out to choose the best option," he said.
After the construction of the track, the travel time to Kathmandu from Hetauda is expected to shorten to two hours from the existing around seven hours.
A source at the Ministry said the ADB is ready to contribute around Rs 35 million for the fast-track route. "The rest will be arranged through other donors. Earlier, Japan extended technical assistance of Rs 55 million (US$ 0.85 million) in order to carry out feasibility study for the construction of the fast-track route.
Showing posts with label Infrastructure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Infrastructure. Show all posts
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Melamchi is dead: Unable to continue after June 30: ADB
Melamchi is dead: Unable to continue after June 30: ADB
eKantipur.com, 22-May-07
BY BIKASH SANGRAULA
Six years after entering construction, Melamchi, the country's largest development project, met a sad demise Tuesday, with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the project's principal donor, saying it cannot extend its loan commitment to the project.
"As it stands now, it would not be possible to carry on with project activities, with the project closing on 30 June 2007. In such difficult circumstances, it is now for the government to decide how it wishes to proceed," said ADB in a statement issued Tuesday, a day after withdrawal by UK firm Severn Trent Water International (STWI) of a contract bid to manage Kathmandu Valley's water supply.
Appointment of a management contractor was a critical covenant in ADB's funding commitment to the project. After Minister of Physical Planning and Works Hisila Yami halted the contract award on May 8, the bank had repeatedly urged the government to award it, stating that without it the bank would be unable to extend its funding commitment. A cabinet meeting in the previous government had decided to award the contract to STWI, which was the sole bidder.
"A key provision of the loan agreement signed between the Government of Nepal and ADB on 24 January 2001 was that the restructuring of Nepal Water Supply Corporation and award of a private sector management contract for delivery of water services under competitive procedures must be completed prior to initiation of civil works contracting for the construction of the diversion tunnel from Melamchi Valley to Kathmandu," the bank said in the statement.
This provision of the loan agreement recognized that the chronic water shortages affecting Kathmandu are caused not only by lack of supply infrastructure and bulk water resources, but also by poor management of water services, the Bank has added in the statement.
"The signing of the private management contract was the very last stage of a long process to achieve the agreed institutional reform for efficient utilization of Melamchi's water. This long process, which has required six years of effort, cannot be completed now that the water utility operator is unable to obtain approval from the Government to sign the duly negotiated contract and the final bid validity has been withdrawn on 15 May 2007 (after nine extensions made since March 2006)," the bank has further said.
Melamchi project, which was scaled down from the original estimated cost of US $ 464 million to US $ 350 million in March this year, was designed to supply 170 million liters of water daily from Melamchi River in Sindhupalchowk district to Sundarijal in Kathmandu through a 26.5-km diversion tunnel. ADB had committed US $ 165 million to the project.
The daily demand of water in Kathmandu Valley is 250 million liters, while the supply is less than one-third the demand.
Source: Melamchi Water Supply (pdf), Asian Development Bank
eKantipur.com, 22-May-07
BY BIKASH SANGRAULA
Six years after entering construction, Melamchi, the country's largest development project, met a sad demise Tuesday, with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the project's principal donor, saying it cannot extend its loan commitment to the project.
"As it stands now, it would not be possible to carry on with project activities, with the project closing on 30 June 2007. In such difficult circumstances, it is now for the government to decide how it wishes to proceed," said ADB in a statement issued Tuesday, a day after withdrawal by UK firm Severn Trent Water International (STWI) of a contract bid to manage Kathmandu Valley's water supply.
Appointment of a management contractor was a critical covenant in ADB's funding commitment to the project. After Minister of Physical Planning and Works Hisila Yami halted the contract award on May 8, the bank had repeatedly urged the government to award it, stating that without it the bank would be unable to extend its funding commitment. A cabinet meeting in the previous government had decided to award the contract to STWI, which was the sole bidder.
"A key provision of the loan agreement signed between the Government of Nepal and ADB on 24 January 2001 was that the restructuring of Nepal Water Supply Corporation and award of a private sector management contract for delivery of water services under competitive procedures must be completed prior to initiation of civil works contracting for the construction of the diversion tunnel from Melamchi Valley to Kathmandu," the bank said in the statement.
This provision of the loan agreement recognized that the chronic water shortages affecting Kathmandu are caused not only by lack of supply infrastructure and bulk water resources, but also by poor management of water services, the Bank has added in the statement.
"The signing of the private management contract was the very last stage of a long process to achieve the agreed institutional reform for efficient utilization of Melamchi's water. This long process, which has required six years of effort, cannot be completed now that the water utility operator is unable to obtain approval from the Government to sign the duly negotiated contract and the final bid validity has been withdrawn on 15 May 2007 (after nine extensions made since March 2006)," the bank has further said.
Melamchi project, which was scaled down from the original estimated cost of US $ 464 million to US $ 350 million in March this year, was designed to supply 170 million liters of water daily from Melamchi River in Sindhupalchowk district to Sundarijal in Kathmandu through a 26.5-km diversion tunnel. ADB had committed US $ 165 million to the project.
The daily demand of water in Kathmandu Valley is 250 million liters, while the supply is less than one-third the demand.
Source: Melamchi Water Supply (pdf), Asian Development Bank
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Privatization or no, NWSC badly needs reforms
Privatization or no, NWSC badly needs reforms
eKantipur.com, 16-May-07
BY BIKASH SANGRAULA
It's over with Severn Trent if the deadline of May 15 set by the firm to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works for award of Kathmandu Valley's water supply management contract means anything.
Minister Yami, who halted the contract award to "review" the previous government's decision to award it to the firm, is busy with damage mitigation. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had backed the deadline by outlining the possible unfolding of events in case of non-award of the contract - a gradual withdrawal by the bank from Melamchi project.
Sources at Kathmandu Upatyeka Khanepani Ltd (KUKL), a water utility operator formed by the previous government, which was supposed to hire Severn Trent, say that in all likelihood KUKL will now be managing the Valley's water supply system on its own.
But how well equipped is KUKL to reform a public utility which has the unenviable reputation of being an over-staffed political recruitment center, with 40 percent leakage, and arrears more than annual revenue?
Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC), which is ceding rights to manage Kathmandu Valley's water supply to KUKL, has total arrears of over Rs 810 million, of which Kathmandu Valley contributes Rs 690 million. NWSC's annual revenue is approximately Rs 720 million, including from towns and cities outside the Valley. Even out of this, 20 percent is invariably added to arrears every year, going by the trend of several decades.
"We still don't have records of many taps that have continued to receive free water supply since before 1974, when the Valley's water supply was overseen by Khanepani Goswara," said one highly placed NWSC official. "And many arrear accounts that feature in our list might not exist anymore. The taps might have been dismantled. We don't know."
Collecting arrears has been problematic. Disconnecting supply of something as essential as water only invites public outcry, which almost always has to be settled "politically", meaning partial or no payment at all. "In recent years, the supply scenario has been so poor that our staff get beaten up for asking payment of backdated bills," the official said.
Officials admit that the corporation is overstaffed. "There are too many non-productive administrative posts," said an official. "On the other hand, there is real dearth of technical manpower." Currently, there are some 2,252 employees at the corporation.
Another area of concern is that the leakage figure of 40 percent is a guesstimate at best. Granting that leakages from the century-old distribution system is not worse, then actual supply in the Valley during dry season is only 60 million liters daily (MLD), 40 percent less than the generation of 100 MLD. The Valley's demand, on the other hand, is 250 MLD.
"It is true that the utility badly needs an overhaul," said NWSC Deputy General Manager Madan Shanker Shrestha. "The problem is that every promise of infrastructure overhaul comes with tied conditions of prior institutional overhaul. And the latter too gets stuck at some stage."
In 33 years since the establishment of Water Supply and Sewerage Board, which later graduated to the status of corporation, millions of dollars have been spent, not to overhaul the system, reduce leakage and arrears and rightsize the utility, but to increase water availability. Some 93 million dollars were spent in grant, loan and technical assistance from 1990 to 1999 alone.
If ADB stays with the project, some 83 million dollars will be spent in the Kathmandu Valley component of the project, which includes distribution system improvement. But who will spend this fund? KUKL is owned by the government (30 percent), municipalities (50 percent), NCC and FNCCI (15 percent) and employees (5 percent). What we can reasonably expect from them is a tricky question.
eKantipur.com, 16-May-07
BY BIKASH SANGRAULA
It's over with Severn Trent if the deadline of May 15 set by the firm to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works for award of Kathmandu Valley's water supply management contract means anything.
Minister Yami, who halted the contract award to "review" the previous government's decision to award it to the firm, is busy with damage mitigation. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had backed the deadline by outlining the possible unfolding of events in case of non-award of the contract - a gradual withdrawal by the bank from Melamchi project.
Sources at Kathmandu Upatyeka Khanepani Ltd (KUKL), a water utility operator formed by the previous government, which was supposed to hire Severn Trent, say that in all likelihood KUKL will now be managing the Valley's water supply system on its own.
But how well equipped is KUKL to reform a public utility which has the unenviable reputation of being an over-staffed political recruitment center, with 40 percent leakage, and arrears more than annual revenue?
Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC), which is ceding rights to manage Kathmandu Valley's water supply to KUKL, has total arrears of over Rs 810 million, of which Kathmandu Valley contributes Rs 690 million. NWSC's annual revenue is approximately Rs 720 million, including from towns and cities outside the Valley. Even out of this, 20 percent is invariably added to arrears every year, going by the trend of several decades.
"We still don't have records of many taps that have continued to receive free water supply since before 1974, when the Valley's water supply was overseen by Khanepani Goswara," said one highly placed NWSC official. "And many arrear accounts that feature in our list might not exist anymore. The taps might have been dismantled. We don't know."
Collecting arrears has been problematic. Disconnecting supply of something as essential as water only invites public outcry, which almost always has to be settled "politically", meaning partial or no payment at all. "In recent years, the supply scenario has been so poor that our staff get beaten up for asking payment of backdated bills," the official said.
Officials admit that the corporation is overstaffed. "There are too many non-productive administrative posts," said an official. "On the other hand, there is real dearth of technical manpower." Currently, there are some 2,252 employees at the corporation.
Another area of concern is that the leakage figure of 40 percent is a guesstimate at best. Granting that leakages from the century-old distribution system is not worse, then actual supply in the Valley during dry season is only 60 million liters daily (MLD), 40 percent less than the generation of 100 MLD. The Valley's demand, on the other hand, is 250 MLD.
"It is true that the utility badly needs an overhaul," said NWSC Deputy General Manager Madan Shanker Shrestha. "The problem is that every promise of infrastructure overhaul comes with tied conditions of prior institutional overhaul. And the latter too gets stuck at some stage."
In 33 years since the establishment of Water Supply and Sewerage Board, which later graduated to the status of corporation, millions of dollars have been spent, not to overhaul the system, reduce leakage and arrears and rightsize the utility, but to increase water availability. Some 93 million dollars were spent in grant, loan and technical assistance from 1990 to 1999 alone.
If ADB stays with the project, some 83 million dollars will be spent in the Kathmandu Valley component of the project, which includes distribution system improvement. But who will spend this fund? KUKL is owned by the government (30 percent), municipalities (50 percent), NCC and FNCCI (15 percent) and employees (5 percent). What we can reasonably expect from them is a tricky question.
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