Kavre, June 23

Panchkhal Municipality Office has urged cooperatives to provide loan at minimum interest to the locals for the construction of a drinking water project in Kavre.

The municipality office has also stated that it will stay as guarantor for the loan given to locals.

Panchkhal Municipality Mayor Mahesh Kharel said work on Sunkoshi Panchkahal Drinking Water Project would start only after locals deposit their share in the account of the project.

As per the agreement, locals will have to bear five per cent of the total cost of the project. Around 1,800 households will get loan through the cooperatives. “The loan will be provided on instalment basis for one year,” he added.

He informed that the municipality would pay off the loan if consumers were unable to pay the loan in a year.

He also said that Rs 30 million would be given in loan to the locals. As many as 7,000 consumers will benefit from the project.

According to the municipality, it decided to stay as guarantor after locals failed to deposit their share required for the project. The consumers have to deposit Rs 18,000 in the project’s bank account.

The drinking water will be supplied from Indrawati River through water lifting system in Panchkhal Municipality.

Chairman of the project Kumar Lamichhane said the total cost of the project was Rs 2.21 billion.

The project will be constructed with financial aid of the Nepal government, Municipal Development Fund and Asian Development Bank.

Consumers have to deposit Rs 110 million, which is five per cent of the total cost of the project, within mid-July.

Lamichhane said work on the project would not start if the amount was not deposited on time.

He added that Rs 80million had already been deposited. The local cooperatives have also agreed to provide loan to consumers.