Govt revokes contract deal with Melamchi’s CMC

KATHMANDU, Feb 7: Finally, the government has revoked the contract deal with Melamchi Drinking Water Project’s contractor, Italian firm CMC.

Executive Director of the Project, Surya Raj Kandel, said on Thursday that the contract agreement signed before with CMC was revoked.

Citing its failure to carry on the construction works of the much-hyped Melamchi Drinking Water Project, CMC had pulled out of its responsibility unilaterally some two months ago adding to new challenges and uncertainties.

With the cancellation of agreement, the national pride project has been pushed to further uncertainties.

Kandel said that the contractor company unilaterally declared its disassociation from the project just ahead of some percent of the project’s construction works were left to complete.

Earlier on 20 January, the government had written to CMC seeking its response within 14 days on why not to revoke the contract with CMC for leaving the project site without informing the Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee.

However, no official response was received in the slated time from the contractor despite the government’s efforts to continue the same contractor firm. Under such circumstance, the bank guarantee amount of the company could be withheld with the project, officials said. The contractor company has the bank guarantee amount of Rs 2.65 billion.

Despite the deal was revoked, consultations are ongoing to proceed ahead with further process. RSS