The Sunkoshi Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project is likely to be affected due to the lack of funds.

The project developer, which is constructing the tunnel, has not received around Rs700 million in payment even though it has been nearly a month and a half after the bills were submitted, according to the project officials.

China Overseas Engineering Group won the contract for the construction of a tunnel in 2021.

The contractor can claim a monthly interest equal to 5 percent of the amount in case the payment is not made within 48 days of the submission of the bill, according to the project office.

When the company had halted project work for nine days earlier in January citing payment issues, the government had to allocate an additional Rs1 billion for it to resume.

Mitra Baral, chief of the project, said the bills received from the contractors have been verified and forwarded to the Ministry of Finance through the Department of Irrigation.

“We will pay the contractors after receiving the amount.”

While the government expenditure in most of the projects across the country has been dismal, the Sunkoshi Marin project has been able to spend nearly Rs4 billion, including an Rs2.71 billion budget allocated for this fiscal year.

The government, through a special arrangement, allocated an additional Rs1 billion.

The project has again asked the finance ministry for additional funds.

The Rs10.05 billion tunnel project in Sindhuli has achieved better-than-expected results with nearly 14 percent of physical progress achieved so far.

According to the project officials, out of the proposed 13.3-kilometre-long tunnel, 4.5 kilometres had been dug by March-end since the work began in mid-October last year.

Around Rs6.82 billion has been spent on the project so far.

The Rs83.51 billion Sunkoshi Marin project located in Sindhuli and Ramechhap districts envisages taking water from the Sunkoshi River and directing it into the Bagmati River to irrigate 122,000 hectares of farmland in Rautahat, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi and Bara districts in the southern plains.

According to project officials, the irrigation scheme is estimated to cost Rs37.3 billion and the hydropower component Rs46.19 billion.

Water from the Sunkoshi will first be diverted to the Marin River in Sindhuli through a seven-metre-wide tunnel before being channelled into the Bagmati River. The water will then be collected at a barrage and then distributed to irrigate the fields.

Low water flows in the Bagmati River have caused severe difficulties for farmers in Rautahat and Sarlahi districts in irrigating their fields. In the dry season, irrigation facilities are not available.

The project proposes to construct a 12-metre-high barrage across the Sunkoshi River and divert a discharge of 67 cubic metres per second through the tunnel to Kusumtar located in Ward 6 of Kamalamai Municipality.

A tunnel boring machine was used to cut through the hills, which makes Sunkoshi Marin the second project after the Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project in Surkhet to do so.

Project chief Baral said that a few instances of delay in payments should not be made an issue when the country itself was going through an economic crisis.

Insiders say the government is low on cash because of a slower revenue collection due to the economy being on a downward spiral.

Contractors said because of the lower revenue collection by the government this fiscal year, payment issues will be more serious in the next fiscal year.