Kathmandu, September 4:

The government is all set to include the private sector for the management of Valley water supplies. It is being done to provide adequate water supplies to the citizens of the Valley and to rectify the high level of leakage. However, the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) would still be in charge of the water supply management outside Kathmandu Valley. The government has formed a Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Management Board (KVWSMB), the governing body responsible for the water supply management for the Valley, under joint secretary of Ministry of Physical Planning and Works Purna Das Shrestha. Its members include heads of all five municipalities in the valley, one member each from the three district development committees, one from Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries and three independent water experts.

According to Himesh Baidhya, a consultant at the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP), a limited liability company, Water Utility Operator (WUO), would be the implementing body under the board and the sole operator responsible for water supply and management within the valley. For the same purpose, a competent private operator will be employed as management contractor (MC) to manage WUO operations for the initial period of about six years. While the NWSC assets including water supply and wastewater service facilities, such as pipes, pumps, reservoirs and treatment plants in the valley, will be transferred over to the KVWSMB.

Another body, the Water Supply Tariff Fixation Commission (WSTFC), will perform regulatory functions, such as determining tariffs and settling unresolved consumers’ complaints against the WUO. The commission would gradually cover all urban centres in Nepal. Baidhya said the committee formed to appoint members of the WSTFC had already submitted its report. He said that the separate bodies would monitor each other’s works and thus enhance their performance. The employees of the NWSC will be employed for a one-year test phase, after which, they would decide among themselves if to stay with WUO or or work outside the valley with NWSC.

Similarly, a Low-Income Consumer Support Unit (LICSU) will be established under the Water Utility Operator (WUO) to focus on providing service to poor consumers. LICSU which will also rehabilitate many of the public standpipes in the valley and construct new ones where needed.

This strategy was adopted by the MWSP as part of an institutional reform programme that was started to address low service coverage, poor service quality, high leakage rates, and significant management inefficiencies. “This programme is expected to help alleviate severe water supply problems worsened by rapid urban growth in recent years,” Baidhya of MWSP said.