The much-awaited Melamchi Drinking Water Project is unlikely to meet its latest deadline of supplying water to the Kathmandu Valley by mid-October this year.

Project authorities have said that the last portion of the project’s tunnel being dug has confronted weak rocks decelerating the digging of tunnel by almost 50 percent. The project was digging about 25 metres a day. Now it has gone down to 12 metres a day due to lose rocks which need extra efforts to stabilize them. Due to the geological condition faced at the last portion of the tunnel construction the project officials have admitted that they might miss the deadline set earlier.

Started in 2000 the project assisted by Asian Development Bank is expected to supply 170 mld water a day in the Valley under the first phase. Once the project comes into operation the Valley denizens will feel some respite from a drinking water crisis. After the second phase of the project is also completed the Valley will receive 510 mld of water a day which will meet the daily requirement of the Valley’s population for up to 2030. The project should also complete its other task of laying pipelines and reservoirs in the city areas to supply water.