TITLE:
Dynamics of Financing, Governance and Socioeconomic Benefits of Melamchi Water Supply Project in Nepal: Lessons Learnt
AUTHORS:
Ram Kumar Phuyal, Madhusudan Bhattarai, Niranjan Devkota
KEYWORDS:
Melamchi Water Supply Project, Intersectoral Reallocation of Water, City Water Supply Scheme, Project Financing Complexities, Governance of Water In-frastructure Projects, Public Private Partnership
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.11 No.7,
July
23,
2020
ABSTRACT: This study assesses the dynamics of multi-sectorial
benefits of a top-flagship project which bears tangible benefits of the project
and benefits earned by the beneficiaries through nonrelated water pricing
mechanism. The paper is based on content analysis and consultation with the
stakeholders concerned and beneficiaries. The result reveals huge tangible
benefits from the project; however, poor project governance and institutional
weakness in managing the project all contributed to delaying the project by
nearly 15 years than its scheduled completion date. This has resulted loses of
over tens of millions USD annually only due to missing opportunity to obtain
water revenue of transferred water, leaving aside other indirect benefits of
water scarce urban households of Kathmandu. The lessons learnt from this
project provide valuable information and insight for addressing governances and
institutional factors in infrastructural project development and project
execution in Nepal and also in other developing countries in the region.