Posted by: bhimu August 17, 2008
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Melamchi debacle (Melamchi Drinking Water Project Corruption)
The development toll of the February One royal takeover is gradually soaring. By now it has become evident that it is impossible to take country's politics backward and make empty promise of development to people. Many donors have already suspended their pipeline aid commitment. The biggest blow so far to the royal regime, however, came on Wednesday when the Norwegian government terminated its agreement to provide US $28 million to the Melamchi Water Supply Project. The multi-million dollar project, already reeling under shortage of funds, is now virtually on the deathbed. With Norway's decision, the total resource gap for the project has now widened to US$ 128 million. The government, already strained with high security expenses and widening budget deficit, has no capacity to fill this resource gap on its own. Finding another international donor at this point is next to impossible. That means, Melamchi, one of the most important and biggest projects in Nepal's modern history, could see a premature death.
The implication will be huge: The near two million population of the valley will have to live under terrible water shortage. It would be naïve, perhaps fatal ignorance, of the royal regime to underestimate the political fallout of the Melamchi debacle. As the water shortage in the valley becomes acute in the future, more and more common people in the capital will hold this government responsible for their plight. Melamchi was also used by this regime as a pretext for witch-hunting using the illegitimately constituted Royal Commission for Corruption Control(RCCC). Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Minister for Physical Planning and Works Prakash Man Singh are under detention for alleged corruption while granting contract of the Melamchi access road.
An Asian Development Bank's high-level investigation report leaked to the press the other day has given another blow to the government. It categorically said that there was no case of irregularity or corruption in awarding the contract. The RCCC is in the process of finalizing its verdict, but the witch-hunting has boomeranged, threatening the very existence of the regime itself. For a nation, the Melamchi debacle is a tragic repetition of Arun III fiasco. Almost a decade ago, Nepal lost one similar multi-million dollar project. Arun III was supposed to generate 400 MW of electricity in the eastern hilly district of Sankhuwasaba. The World Bank, principal funder of the project, withdrew at the eleventh hour throwing cold water on the development dream of the people in the region. But the Melamchi Water Supply Project is not just a dream but an issue of peoples' most basic need of life – Water. Thus, the Melamchi debacle puts into test the very patience of the Kathmandities. The day it breaks, that will be the end of this regime.
Melamchi corruption reports:-