The Melamchi Water Supply Project is set to conduct a test run of its water treatment plant in Sundarijal in July. 

The project officials said 95 percent of the works of the water treatment facility has been completed and they are planning for a test run in July.

The water treatment plant will have a capacity of holding 85 million litres of water directed from the Melamchi river in Sindhupalchok through a 27.5 km tunnel.

Prakash Rudra Shreshta, a project consultant from NJS Consultants Co Ltd, said the test run will be carried out  by canalising water from the Bagmati river in July when the water flow is high. 

The test run is said to last for 168 hours. 

The water treatment plant is one of the major components of the project which once completed will supply 170 million litres of drinking water daily to Kathmandu.

Officials said the contractor will operate and maintain the water treatment plan for the first three months as well as train the workers before handing it over to the Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited.

The total cost of the project is Rs3.4 billion, of which 70 percent is a loan extended by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).  

A Japanese embassy official said the Japan government is hopeful that the people in Kathmandu will be relieved of the water shortage problem after the project comes into operation.