22 years after the formation of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee, water was released into Sundarijal in the Kathmandu Valley in Chaitra, 2077. Melamchi, which was started by forming the Melamchi Board in 2055, did not become a reality, but donor organizations sought government commitment and transparency. They sought a guarantee that there would be no corruption in the financial assistance they provided. But not only was the construction of the same project delayed, it also became embroiled in controversy due to irregularities and corruption.

Melamchi became such a project that it could also become a preferred study site for researchers. Because how are large projects built with foreign aid in Nepal? What causes delays in construction? How does government intervention and irregularities occur? What kind of 'obstacles' do the state machinery create in the implementation of development projects, the Melamchi project is a vivid example.

A project that took 22 years to complete. Considering the time the study started, it took almost 3 and a half decades to complete the construction. Especially in the initial stage of the project, the story of Melamchi begins from that point due to the incident where donors became suspicious of the government's decision. The government formed the Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee in 2055. But the main investor of Melamchi, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), had expressed dissatisfaction with the government's decision from the beginning.

It had expressed suspicions of corruption and irregularities in such projects. Before the project implementation phase, M Shah, the resident representative of the Asian Bank for Nepal, expressed dissatisfaction with the government's attitude towards Melamchi at a public event. He expressed dissatisfaction that he had not received information that the government had formed the Melamchi Board and changed the project director. At a program organized by the Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning in Kathmandu on 12 Ashad 2055, Sah had said, ‘The government has recently changed the project director without consulting the donor agency and has formed the Melamchi Drinking Water Distribution Board without informing them.’

Shah had expressed dissatisfaction over the bank approving the necessary loan for the engineering of the project but not appointing a consultant. Saying that the office for the Melamchi Drinking Water Distribution Project was not established when the work was delayed, the bank representative Sah had said that the necessary Drinking Water Act had not been passed and the government’s work was delayed.

Even though the donor agency had promised to support the construction of the project, the government side was indifferent. Bank officials were surprised that the donor agency itself had to call a meeting and request for discussions due to government negligence. ‘Meetings with the donor agency should be held repeatedly at the initiative of the government, but here the meeting has been called only after the donor agency requested it,’ Sah said.

He had repeatedly discussed such issues with the Housing Minister, Secretary and officials of the ministry, but they were ignored. Arguing that the lack of leadership and commitment expected from the government towards such projects supported by donor organizations is not new, he had said, ‘This is a special project, we will not accept such indifference.’

At that time, the project, estimated to cost about 300 million US dollars (about 18 billion Nepali rupees), was the largest investment in Nepal. Melamchi was a bigger project than the Kaligandaki Power Project in terms of investment. More than half a dozen donor organizations, led by the Asian Bank of Melamchi, had committed to investing. Like all other programs supported by donor organizations, Melamchi would not be successful from a commercial perspective, Sah had said, ‘If we do this again, the project will fail, and we and other donor organizations will not be ready to spend limited resources and means.’

According to a letter sent by the bank's board of directors, the meeting was also informed about the formulation of a policy to control corruption. Sah had informed that the same policy on corruption would be implemented in Melamchi as well. Since donor agencies are not unaware of the corruption in Nepal, Melamchi was also suspected. Housing Minister Arjun Narsingh KC at the meeting stated that the government was committed to solving the problems in Melamchi. The then Finance Secretary Rambinod Bhattarai informed the meeting that it was difficult to work because there would be 5 governments in 4 years and employees would be transferred immediately after the formation of each new government. Representative McQuartas, who came to Kathmandu from ADB to participate in the meeting, said that when the government messes up, the people should pressure the government to correct it. He had told Kantipur, 'Public awareness in Nepal has not yet been awakened. The role of the press in making the people aware of such tardiness is up to them.'

The Norwegian government proposed to build the Melamchi dam and tunnel with the help of NORAD. NORAD had placed some conditions on it. After NORAD brought water to Sundarijal in Kathmandu, ADB took the responsibility of supplying water to tanks in Bansbari, Mahakanlasthan, Maharajgunj and other places.

Similarly, the World Bank had put forward a plan to develop a pipeline system to supply water to households only after the privatization of drinking water distribution. Kantipur Daily published a news report prepared by journalist Rama Parajuli on the subject of government delay and corruption before the construction of Melamchi began, titled ‘Donors angry with government actions regarding Melamchi project’ on 13 Asad 2055.