Nepal firmed up its support for the Asian Development Bank, following an email from the major lender that stated it was withdrawing $140 million in approved funding for the Melamchi Drinking Water Project. “We are not against ADB or Melamchi project. We know that Melamchi is important for the long term,” said Nepali Minister for Works and Physical Planning Hisila Yami. “Our only concern is that the government and the people should have the hold on the management of basic things like water,” she added. Earlier, the Maoist minister ordered a review of an agreement, a precondition of the ADB loan, that awarded the project’s water distribution contract to the private British company, Severn Trents Plc. The $340 million project, which now faces the threat of being shelved, seeks to augment the drinking water provisions in three cities in the Kathmandu valley, where the current supply of 90 million liters a day falls alarmingly short of the 240 MLD demand. (Sources: Nepal not against ADB’s water project: official/Xinhua; Asian Development Bank pulls out of Nepal water project/Deutsche Presse Agentur)
